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Special Orders 

for Commander Leigh 


A Story of the Lower Coast 
of Louisiana 


By 


■TH 

fui r 


Col. Richard Henry Savage 

AUTHOR OF 

“MY OFFICIAL WIFE ” “AN EXILE FROM 
LONDON ” Etc. 



NEW YORK 

THE HOME PUBLISHING COMPANY 

3 EAST FOURTEENTH STREET 


/ 




thf Library of 

CONGRESS, 

Two Cow ts Received 

JUL, 22 1902 

OHT ENTRY 

ft- WV 

^XXc. No. 

2> s •) O fc 

COPY B. 


Copyright, 190a 
by 

A. C. GUNTER 
All Rights Reserved 







Special Orders for Commander Leigh. 


BOOK I. 

Friendly Foes. 


CHAPTER PAGH 


I. 

Below the Boom .... 

5 

II. 

The Night Battle for the Mississippi 

21 

III. 

Madame Delmar’s Dilemma • 

. 44 

IV. 

The Secret of the Bank Vault 

. 6 i 


BOOK II. 



In the Confederate Colony at Paris. 


CHAPTER PAGE 


V. 

A Baffling Disclosure 

• 79 

VI. 

A Familiar Face .... 

. go 

VII. 

Her Letter 

• 97 

VIII. 

The Birth of the “ Alabama ” 

. iog 

IX. 

On the “ Vanderbilt ” • 

. ng 

X. 

An Encounter in Paris • 

• 135 


BOOK III 


CHAPTER 

The Grist of the Gods. 

PAGE 

XI. 

An Ocean Duel .... 

. 156 

XII. 

“This Will Be Our Last Parting- ” 

• 169 

XIII. 

The Battle of Mobile Bay 

• 184 

XIV. 

Elise Armytage’s Story 

• 196 

XV. 

The Third Heir .... 

• 202 

XVI. 

Fair Hands Lift the Curtain f. 

. 217 


Special Orders for 

Commander Leigh. 


BOOK I. 

Friendly Foes. 


chapter I. 

BELOW THE BOOM. 

“Two dead and three wounded, last night, Sir!” 
said Acting Ensign Wardwell, as he handed the 
morning report to Lieutenant Jasper Leigh, U.S. Navy. 

“It is insupportable, Wardwell!” sternly answered 
the young commander of B. Division of Captain Por- 
ter’s Mortar Fleet, lying two miles below the heavy 
boom which spanned the Father of Waters below Fort 
Jackson and St. Philip. “ Call away my boat. I’m 
going out to the flagship to see Captain Drayton. 
I’ll soon stop their nonsense!” 

It was a misty morning of “sixty-two,” and a low 
clinging fog hid the green woods on either shore from 
the eyes of the bronzed officer as he sharply called 
out “ Give way, men, with a will,” and the cutter 
shot away down the muddy current of the Mississippi. 

“April nineteenth !” muttered Leigh. “For two 
days, we have been raining shells into the forts from 
twenty-one mortar schooners, and so far we do not 
hold a single inch of the rebel Parish of Plaquemines ! 


6 SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 

If my poor men lie here helpless longer, they will all 
be picked off before the forts surrender, or the river 
is forced ! ” 

While he spoke, the roar of the thirteen inch mor- 
tars made a fearful diapason of thunder, and the 
waves washed high on the neglected levees. 

The oarsmen were sullen and despondent! Since 
the seven schooners of Leigh’s Division had taken up 
their triangulated position, at night and morning, ex- 
pert riflemen, creeping out of the thick woods on 
the left bank, had assassinated the deck watch and 
decimated small boat parties. 

“Oh! for the hour of action! Why does not Flag 
Officer Farragut move!” groaned Leigh. “He has 
all the force he needs — all that the country can give 
him. Perhaps he waits for Major General Benjamin 
Franklin Butler to hurl his Boston mustered army 
from Ship Island on shore through Lake Borgne and 
easily get the railroad from Proctors to St. Bernards, 
and so cut off the forts.” 

“Ha! They are not yet silenced!” 

The boom of a half dozen heavy guns from the two 
forts saluted a saucy tugboat running dangerously 
near the great river obstruction which, so far, kept 
the fleet from attempting to pass the forts. The heavy 
columbiads’ voices could be easily distinguished from 
the bellowing roar of the busy mortars. 

The fog lifting showed to the Lieutenant’s anxious 
gaze a sight never to be forgotten. The muddy turbid 
river tumbled along between the banks three quarters 
of a mile wide, clad with gloomy semi-tropical forests, 
the shores dotted with abandoned houses. Here and 
there, a wreck grinned ghastly on the sedgy shores 
of the great bend which, running from the southeast 
to the north, curved back to the southwest, to allow 
Fort Jackson on the right and Fort St. Philip on the 
left bank to hold an enemy for four long miles under 
their cross-fire. 

“ The old fellows who planted those forts knew their 
business ! ” mused Leigh as he swept the upper river 
with his glasses. 

Furnished with all the engineer plans of the officers 


SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 


7 


who had built these great modern strongholds, the 
Mortar Fleet and the West Gulf Blockading Squadron 
were now attacking the two grim fortresses, behind 
which a Confederate fleet of unknown magnitude lay 
ready, with rams, fire ships, rafts and every devilish 
appliance of modern ware fare. 

“It’s diamond cut diamond!” laughed Leigh. “We 
have Weitzel and McPherson, they have Beaure- 
gard and Whiting — all engineer officers who aimed 
to make these forts impassable !” 

His eyes rested on the forbidding line of hulks and 
logs doubly anchored and linked with quadrupled chain 
cables closing the river below the forts. 

“ I warrant some Navy fellow did that work. It’s 
a neat job ! They have Hollins, Beverly Kennon and 
a dozen other daredevils! Semmes probably advised 
them also before he took the Sumter out to sea.” 

In three great groups of seven each, the twenty-one 
mortar schooners anchored near the right and left 
banks were now pouring in that terrific fire which, in 
six long days, rained seventeen thousand heavy shells 
of thirteen inch caliber upon the defiant fortresses. 

It was a gallant and a martial sight as the rising sun 
slowly conquered the mist and the great fleet of thirty 
war vessels hove in view, the squadron made forever 
immortal by Farragut — the vast armament whose guns 
later scourged the Mississippi and the Gulf from 
Vicksburg to Mobile. 

“ The old man is getting ready ! He has not for- 
gotten how to fight since forty-eight years ago, when 
he stood on the deck of the Essex in Valparaiso Har- 
bor,” thought Leigh, as the cutter swung alongside of 
the Hartford and he ran up the ladder, and reporting 
to the officer of the deck, was ushered into the presence 
of Fleet Captain Percival Drayton. 

Full of his mission, the Lieutenant stood at atten- 
tion before the polished South Carolinian. 

Captain Drayton listened in a grave silence. “Why 
did you not apply directly to Acting Commodore 
Porter ? ” he sternly said. 

“ We have nothing but cutlasses and revolvers, Sir !” 
answered Leigh. “ Without a marine detachment well 


8 SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 

armed with rifles, we cannot hope to clear the banks! 
If you can but lend me sixty stand of arms, we can 
hold the whole shore ! ” 

“ Where have you served? ” asked the Fleet Captain. 

“ Class of Fifty-five, Annapolis. Served three years 
in Mediterranean, four years on China station, just 
reported here a week ago. My home is in Elmira, 
New York,” replied the junior officer. “ I command 
B Division, Mortar Fleet.” 

“ Very good ! ” slowly said Drayton. “ I will men- 
tion your name to the Admiral, and will send you a 
hundred marines three hours before daylight to-mor- 
row morning, with eighty rounds of cartridges each. 
There will be two Dahlgren boat howitzers which you 
can land. Send your own boat here at midnight also, 
to conduct them. You know the flagship’s signal, three 
red battle lanterns at the mizzen ! A similar force will 
clear the right bank under an officer from this ship. 
You are to go in command. 

“ Divide your party ! Sweep up and down the levee ! 
Deal sharply with these fellows. You may keep fifty 
of the muskets, and you shall have a boatload of am- 
munition ! Don’t go near enough the end of the boom 
to bring on a fight, but if you can find out anything of 
the construction of that obstacle, report to me direct 
at once, yourself.” 

As Leigh turned to go, Captain Drayton asked: 
“ What are the results of your mortar fire ? ” 

“Nothing, I believe, Sir!” replied the Lieutenant, 
saluting, “save to keep the enemy’s gunners under 
cover. They instantly fire at anything within range.” 

“ Well, we will give them a chance,” remarked 
Drayton, “ just as soon as Caldwell, with the Itasca , 
can cut three hulks out of that boom ! I’d give a 
Commander’s commission for a plan of it ! Mark you, 
Mr. Leigh, this plan is to be kept a secret !” 

Saluting, Leigh darted down the companionway, 
never casting a glance at the three hundred men busy 
in fitting the flagship for her grim battle ordeal. 

“ A likely young fellow,” mused Captain Drayton, 
recalling Jasper Leigh’s well-knit frame, clear brown 
eyes, crisp, clustering curls and bold, decided face. 


SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 


9 


“ Looks more like a son of Mason and Dixon’s land, 
than a New Yorker! ” 

As Drayton rose to meet Captains Bell and Bailey, 
leaders of the two great columns already mapped out, 
he soon forgot the young officer of twenty-seven, 
whose face was bronzed by the pitiless sun of the China 
Seas to a Creole darkness. 

Leigh’s “ Jackies ” grinned when they saw the evi- 
dent signs of preparation in the great flotilla. Ships 
covered with the slimy river mud, piled sand bags and 
busy coal barges, topmasts housed, boats cleared away, 
chain cables strongly bolted over the engines, all these 
signs were potent! 

Lieutenant Leigh had not even stopped for a 
“ shakehands ” with the gallant Wainwright and the 
steady Thornton, old shipmates, for his heart bounded 
with delight when he saw how his commander had ex- 
ercised his ingenuity in hiding and veiling the dimen- 
sions of his vessel, as well as protecting the exposed 
portions. 

“ How many ships will get by ? ” he mused, gazing 
down the muddy waters. 

But his mind was full of his own project as he 
sped on, the men now straining at the oars past the 
Hartford, Pensacola, Richmond, Cayuga, Varuna, 
Scioto, Oneida and twenty other heavy vessels, mount- 
ing five hundred guns and manned by three thousand 
determined men. 

He forgot that he was himself to fight, perhaps to 
die, at dawn — in the fierce delight of the coming re- 
venge for the ignoble flight of the fleet at the South 
West Pass on October twelfth of “sixty-one.” 

“Not ours, the ignominy,” mused the naval officer, 
“of turning over the posts of Jackson, St. Philip and 
Fort Pike, the Baton Rouge Arsenal, the Mint and 
Custom House, to the enemy, but that Hollins with 
the Manassas, three rafts and five weak river steamers 
should drive the Richmond, Preble, Vincennes and' 
Water Witch with their consorts a hundred miles to 
sea, was a nayal disgrace.” 

This shan^ preyed on the brave young officer, who 
growled, ‘Vnd, Raphael Semmes, running* the 


IO SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 

Sumter boldly out to sea, through our blockading fleet, 
capturing eighteen vessels and shaming the whole 
North — truly we need a signal victory to wipe out our 
sore disgrace!” 

His keen mind approved Farragut’s effective plan 
of sealing the river below the forts, leaving Pass a 
TOutre Channel — the Main Pass — the North, North- 
east and Southwest passes all guarded by light gun- 
boats. “It is here that the Confederacy must be cut in 
twain !” he mused. 

An hour later he stepped on board the light head- 
quarters schooner, while the heavy mortars were beat- 
ing away on the huge anvils two miles away! 

Low, sullen earth mounds were now replying with 
the heavy batteries of the two forts so pusillanimously 
handed over to the mad enthusiasts of the Creole State. 

All that afternoon Jasper Leigh, with Ensign Ward- 
well, was busied in the secret preparations for his 
dash on shore! 

Nothing had been neglected before the darkness of 
night closed down upon his headquarters boat. 

A draft of men from each of his seven mortar boats 
was secretly summoned by Wardwell, the cutter made 
ready, his own preparations concluded, and then, climb- 
ing to the cross-stays of his headquarters boat, Leigh 
reconnoitered the long, low line of the levee. 

Beyond the mortar boats, all dressed with green 
trees, so as to seem a part of the heavy shore foliage, 
he could only see the cypress forests, the salt marshes, 
a few fishers’ cottages and the burned and abandoned 
plantations. 

The setting sun gleamed on the forest of masts of 
the ships which were to wipe out in flaming broadsides 
the stain of the cowardly flight before Hollins. The 
Hartford bore the blue Flag Officer’s pennant of the 
cheery old veteran of sixty-one, who now sat with 
his captains calmly laying out a game between Life 
and Death where Death must win its rich harvest of 
precious manhood! 

“If Farragut is like Drayton, I think he’ll do!” 
grimly thought Leigh, noting the ceaseless activity of 
the whole fleet. 


SrEv^iAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 


II 


Sweeping the harmless-looking levee, Leigh saw 
there abundant hiding places for the deadly guerillas. 

There were many open waterways stretching out 
toward Venice and Bird Island! 

Far to the north, past the forts, lay Neptune, Buras 
and Sunrise villages, but, between the boom and his 
own mortar boat division, lay a splendid old plantation 
whose fallow fields stretched for miles away to 
the north and east ! 

“ La Belle Etoile,” he murmured. “ Evidently a 
princely place in the days of the Crescent City. Some 
patrician’s home ! There are negro quarters for a 
thousand slaves, sugar houses, mills, storehouses, and 
these great gardens, the old summer wharf — this 
grand mansion. That is the robber nest! I must 
clear that out ! These daring murderers must hide 
there and reconnoitre our positions during the day!” 

Map and sextant in hand, seated astride the cross- 
trees, Leigh, his glasses slung around him, took all 
the angles which he desired for his sketch of the at- 
tack. 

“Yes ! I think that will do !” he murmured. “My 
party will land here, gain the rear of the house, sur- 
round it by midnight, then, at four o’clock, landing 
the marines above and below, we will drag-net the 
whole levee and fields, up to the cypress point a half 
mile below the boom ! The rebels will suspect nothing, 
for the racket of this day and night bombardment will 
put them off their guard ! ” 

Assuring himself of no signs of cavalry or artillery 
on the left bank, the young commander descended, 
and then, sending for each mortar boat captain gave 
his secret orders. 

It was only when he had finished his last prepara- 
tions that Jasper Leigh sat down with Wardwell to 
his Spartan meal. 

Both men were serious! Wardwell, a bluff sea- 
man of forty, listened gravely to his young command- 
er’s last orders. 

When darkness settled down on the great river, the 
young Lieutenant, walking the quarterdeck of the 
schooner, could see Robert Wardwell writing those 


12 


SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 


few lines of “ last wishes ” which wring the heart of 
a husband and father going into conflict. 

“ Alone ! ” he murmured, looking up from the daz- 
zling golden lights of the idle fleet below, to the blue 
Polar star. “I am as lonely as Polaris yonder !” 

At twenty-seven, Jasper Leigh, could only look 
back to the memories of a beloved mother, the news 
of whose death four months before had reached him 
at New York, on his landing to report forthwith to 
the Secretary of the Navy. 

Hurried South, he had been spared the sight of that 
lonely grave in the peaceful cemetery of the beauti- 
ful little country city of Elmira on the banks of the 
Chemung. 

“ My first fight for my flag! ” mused Jasper Leigh. 
“Alone in the world, if I fall here, let them bury 
me where the foeman’s bullet finds me! There is 
no one left to mourn for me! Not one on earth! ” 

For all his childish recollections clung to the beauti- 
ful face of Agnes Leigh, the mother, who, left a mere 
girl widow, had sent her only son first to the Troy 
Polytechnic, and later, to the United States Naval 
Academy. 

The father, whom he had never seen, was merely 
a nebulous memory, dead in a distant land, leaving, 
however, a decent competence to his widow and child. 

And now, perhaps on the brink of his own grave, 
Jasper Leigh recalled the letter of a legal firm in 
Elmira informing him of the last letters of his mother 
sent to the Navy Department, to meet her returning 
son. 

“If we get to New Orleans, and go up the river, 
I may never live to see them! Perhaps I will not 
need them ! ” gravely thought Leigh, taking a last 
look at his sword belt with the two revolvers and the 
battle blade ready. 

He only now waited for Wardwell’s departure to 
execute a plan of his own, a last happy thought! 
“There are always stray negroes prowling about such a 
place! I’ll take my own messengers, steal on shore, 
capture and gag the first negro I find, and force him 


SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 


*3 


later, to guide me directly to the house! If there is 
any ambuscade, I’ll soon know it !” 

On this third day, the overworked men of the mor- 
tar fleet were already accustomed to the thunder by 
day, the fiery trail of the tumbling shells by night, 
the golden twinkle of the fuse marking the curved 
path ! 

Climbing again into the rigging, Leigh closely 
watched the great deserted mansion of “La Belle 
Etoile.” 

Not a light gleamed out there, a half mile away, the 
night glasses just showing the outlines of the abode 
of the vanished conspirator. From a single fugitive 
contraband, a rumor had been gained that the absent 
master, the lord of a thousand slaves, was serving 
with Van Dorn as the Colonel of a Louisiana Regi- 
ment, that the “ people ” had been removed to New 
Orleans or to the “ forts ” to dig and slave, and, that 
“nobody of any account wuz dar,” the house being 
closed. “A millionaire,” mused Leigh. The negro 
mumbled that “ Le Bocage ” on the other bank, half 
way to New Orleans, was also the property of the 
“Massa,” and, that “La Belle Etoile” was the “best- 
est” place on “de whol’ Lower coast.” 

Gazing down at the great fleet, whence fifty sun- 
set guns had echoed defiance to the forts above, the 
Lieutenant sighed as a salvo from each of the huge 
rebel works greeted a daring gunboat which had poked 
her nose too near the boom, in the gathering shadows. 

“They have keen eyed men on the hulks, signal tele- 
graphs and they know every angle of the quadrant 
for their deadly fire. We will have a fearful struggle !” 
But he proudly thought, “I will have first blood or die 
here at ‘La Belle Etoile.’ That is a grim guerilla’s 
nest. I shall burn it.” 

He paced the deck waiting the return of Ensign 
Wardwell, who had pulled away to the lieutenants 
of the mortar squadron, conveying Captain Drayton’s 
orders for the night attack. 

Only the sighing of the wind, the lapping of the 
waters, kept time to the terrific explosion of the mor- 
tars, the shock of which broke windows at the Balize, 


14 SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 

thirty miles away. The river was covered with dead 
and stunned fish, floating helplessly. 

By skilled triangulations and charts the gunners 
worked unerringly without seeing the great fortress, 
being directed by lookouts on the mast heads. 

“Strange panorama of fate/’ mused Leigh. “On 
the old Chalmette battleground where Jackson dis- 
persed the English, a dozen regiments wait to-day 
with field batteries ready to pour a deadly hail on the 
Stars and Stripes.” 

Wardwell’s return recalled him. “Muster your men 
now; call away your boat,” commanded Leigh, gird- 
ing himself with his weapons. 

Only the signal lanterns burned on the silent fleet 
when the Ensign pulled softly away at eleven o’clock. 

Thanking God for the racket, half an hour later 
the Lieutenant turned over the command of the divis- 
ion to Master Joselyn, the gunner-in-chief of the cease- 
less bombardment. “Ask me no questions,” said 
Leigh. “I am going ashore for a little information.” 

A dozen men armed with cutlasses and double re- 
volvers and a boat’s crew of six filled a heavy launch 
which Leigh steered downwards into the reeds, twenty 
rods below the anchorage of the lowest mortar boat. 

Stealing silently ashore on the enemy’s soil, creep- 
ing along under the landward shadow of the levee, 
the men deftly followed their brave leader while the 
boat paddled noiselessly up the stream. Cautiously 
peering over the level of the road along the levee in 
the dim starlight, Leigh held his breath as a sauntering 
negro was at last visible in the gloom. Crouching 
down, the party awaited their victim, and then with a 
quick rush, a scuffle and the prompt use of cords and 
gags, the frightened African was hustled into the 
launch. 

“Softly, pull quietly,” ordered Leigh, holding a 
pistol barrel at the negro’s forehead. 

Eight bells sounded as the terrified slave was led 
down into Leigh’s cabin. Only a boatman stood grim- 
ly on guard while the Union officer calmed his trem- 
bling captive. 


SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COM MANDEB LEIGH. 


IS 


In an hour Leigh had learned the whole topography 
of the plantation. 

“You are sure you know the land well? queried 
the Lieutenant. 

“Jess so!” the young negro answered. . “I’ve 
been home servant and table waiter for old Massa 
Aristide Villeroi. When he dun gone in the Army, I 
ran away, when they cum to press de peoples to work 
on de forts.” 

“You are to take us to the house by and by,” said 
the naval officer. “ Play me false, and you die on 
the spot. If you are sensible, you won’t get hurt 
and — I’ll bring you off and you’ll have your free- 
dom.” 

Chattering with fear, the negro collapsed under 
boatswain Hannigan’s threatening eye. 

The long hours wore away. The negro was kept 
under strict guard while Jasper Leigh silently mus- 
tered his own command. At four o’clock Robert 
Ward well’s cutter shot along side. 

“ The lower force is at its post,” reported the En- 
sign. “ There goes the upper division.” 

“Make haste and post the upper detachment ! 
Hasten back, we’ll land the very moment you return.” 

An hour later, as the first faint light of dawn was 
visible in the eastern sky, at a silent signal from Leigh 
eight boats glided away from the headquarters 
schooner. The crowded men were only black as 
shadows on the darkening waters. Five minutes’ vig- 
orous rowing landed them in a little cove under the 
foliage. Stealing ashore, Wardwell’s fifty men con- 
cealed themselves while Leigh and their leader sought 
for an entrance to the open ground behind the levee. 

“Dere’s the cow trail,” whispered the negro, still 
guarded by boatswain Hannigan. “It leads to the 
barn behind the house.” 

“Go on, Wardwell,” whispered Leigh to the Ensign. 
“Steal up ; hold the outhouses. Remember the watch- 
word, ‘Hartford’ and the white badges! Close in on 
the house when you have secured all around the rear. 
Use only the cutlass; as little noise as possible. We 
will move up to the front and break in.” 


1 6 SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 

“There go the signals of the other parties/’ said 
Wardwell, dashing away at a run, as port-fires 
gleamed out on the levee and a mile above and below 
the cove. 

Leigh led his men along the gardens in front of 
the deserted mansion. Before his party had crossed 
the deep ditch, Wardwell’s column was spreading out 
in a chain to connect with the marines closing down 
from both sides, and sweeping over the whole land 
back to the edges of the marshes. Dropping shots now 
rang out; faint yells and distant calls were heard 
as Jasper Leigh at the head of his detachment entered 
the gardens of the great mansion. And now startled 
figures flitted among the trees. There was the rising 
up of yelling combatants, the crack of pistols, the rous- 
ing cheer of Wardwell’s men and a rattling fusillade 
sparkling along the curved network of assailants draw- 
ing in towards La Belle Etoile. 

A single light gleamed for a moment from the upper 
window of the mansion, and then quickly disappeared, 
while a rapid exchange of shots, cries of fugitives, 
and shouts of triumph told of Ward well’s victory. 

Backed by a dozen men, Leigh, having emptied his 
revolver at a group of three rebels, who fled after fir- 
ing, dashed at the great front door of the mansion. 

Nearer and nearer down the levee and up from 
below came the sounds of the running skirmish, while 
triumphant cheers of “Hartford,” “Hartford,” rang 
out on the night air. 

“Try a window,” cried Boatswain Hannigan. At 
this sound, the voices of women raised in alarm were 
faintly heard from within. 

It was beginning a conquest blindly, as Leigh, en- 
tering the house, stumbled over lace curtains and over- 
turned a chair. Four men followed him as he sprung 
into the lower hall. 

Standing at the foot of the grand staircase, pistols 
and cutlass in hand, Leigh was suddenly blinded with 
a glare of light, as the door opened above. He stood 
transfixed as a woman, both young and beautiful, 
strode out into the light. “Call off your men, for God’s 


SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 


*7 


sake,” called the lovely apparition. “There is no one 
here but two lonely women.’' 

“Calm yourself,” instantly replied the Lieutenant. 
“You are safe, but I must search the house. My men 
have been murdered from cover of your plantation.” 

Calling to Wardwell, the young commander hastily 
ordered: “Light all the lanterns. Put sentinels 

around the house. I’ll wait here with four men.” 

“All’s over,” hastily replied the Ensign. “Nine 
dead, fifteen captured ; all of them riflemen in a militia 
uniform. The leader fought well ; he is hurt, but has 
been hidden in the house somewhere. I’ve posted my 
men all around and sen: out three each way to lead the 
marines down to our line. A dozen skirmishers are 
posted on each flank.” 

“Give me one of the lanterns!” directed Leigh. 
“See that no one escapes by the rear stairways. 
Send some men to search all the cellars below and 
guard every outlet.” 

Leigh noted the splendor of the two great drawing- 
rooms, as Wardwell’s guard hastily searched the rear 
rooms and dining-halls. 

“No one here,” said the Ensign. “Only a trail of 
blood on the rear stairway. 

“Follow that and station a sentinel at each stairway,” 
ordered Leigh. “Join me on the floor above. I must 
have the wounded leader!” 

Followed by his four men, the Lieutenant, lantern 
in hand, ascended the main stairway, ready for any 
surprise, and yet, with the accent of the lady’s voice 
still thrilling his heart. 

As he stepped into the upper hall, a door opened and 
a calm-faced woman bravely faced him. 

“I am the representative of the family,” she simpfy 
said. “My name is Elise Delmar. Save my niece, 
there is no one here ! You do not war on women ?” 

“We do not, Madame,” gravely replied Jasper, gaz- 
ing at the stately Creole widow, “but my duty causes 
me to seek the wounded officer who is here !” 

“Henri ! My God, you would not kill him ?” 

“No, Madame!” bitterlv replied Leigh. “Forty of 
our sailors have been murdered by the cowardly sharp- 


1 8 SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 

shooters, but I will go no farther than my duty. You 
must let me search this first room here, at the head of 
the stairway. You can then retire there with your 
niece, until we have finished investigating the whole 
house. Then I will put guards on duty, and protect 
you in every way. But it is useless to try and conceal 
anyone. My prisoner shall be properly treated. I am 
an officer in the United States Navy.” 

“Your stay will be short,” bitterly retorted the 
spirited Southerner, her splendid eyes flashing a de- 
fiance. 

“The Stars and Stripes will be floating over New 
Orleans in a week !” coldly replied Leigh. “Madame, 
I will give you now five minutes. Enter these rooms. 
Find your niece. I will first search this one.” 

Sending his men into a great guest room, the young 
officer satisfied himself of its harboring no fugitive. 

“You can spare me pain,” sorrowfully said Leigh. 
“I do not war upon women. Nor, willingly, upon my 
brethren.” 

In a few moments Madame Delmar aided a shrouded 
form, a sobbing woman, to glide into the inspected 
room. 

“Now search the whole floor,” directed Leigh, as a 
moment later he asked the widow : “Have you no 
attendants ?” 

“Our maids are hidden I know not where. They 
all fled at the first firing,” said Madame Delmar, as she 
followed him, clinging to his arm in vain supplication, 
as a sailor called out “Here he is, Lieutenant !” 

Entering the last of eight great sleeping chambers, 
where a light glimmered upon the pale face of a young 
man lying upon a blood-bedabbled bed — Jasper Leigh 
gazed upon the wounded youth, a handsome fellow of 
twenty-one. 

“This gentleman’s name, Madame?” gently said the 
young commander. 

“He needs instant aid to save his life! Ball in his 
shoulder, Sir!” cried the old Boatswain. “Must get 
him off to the Hospital boat or he will bleed to death.” 

“He is Henri Villeroi, a Master in the Confederate 
States Navy; my nephew,” cried the distracted woman. 


SPECIAL ORDERS FOft COMMANDER LEIGH. 


!9 


“Get me some brandy and bandages !” directed 
Leigh, as Wardwell strode into the room. 

The frightened woman fled away, forgetting all 
fears, as Leigh said gravely, “Search his clothes, 
Wardwell! Send a boat off at once to the Hospital- 
steamer for a surgeon with all needed supplies. 
Hasten. I will stay here. And ask the officer of 
Marines to meet me below. The day is breaking.” 

Before the Ensign had remounted the stairway, the 
old Boatswain had finished the inspection of the suf- 
ferer’s garments. “They intended to hide him,” said 
the old sailor. “We were too quick for them !” 

But Jasper Leigh was silent, moodily gazing at a 
picture on the wall. It was a group of midshipmen 
clustered on the steps of the mess hall at Annapolis. 
The legend underneath told the story “Class of 1861.” 

“Poor fellow. A brother of the foul anchor,” sighed 
Leigh, as he forced some brandy between the sufferer’s 
lips, while Madame Delmar watched Wardwell 
roughly bandaging the wound. 

“Here are some papers,” growled old Hannigan, as 
Leigh sprung to his feet. 

With a prophetic instinct, the Lieutenant darted out 
to the hallway. One glance was enough. The plans 
of the great Mississippi boom! 

Dragging Wardwell away, Leigh whispered in his 
ear: “Take your swiftest boat. Send Josselyn here 
with one boat’s crew. I must hold this bank. But get 
these plans into Captain Drayton’s hands at once; 
the possession of these plans may take the fleet safely 
through the boom and carry us up. Then report back 
to me at once with Drayton’s orders.” 

Half an hour later the Surgeon with his mates en- 
tered the prisoner’s sick room, and took possession of 
the case. Two frightened negro maids had stolen back 
to the room. 

Then in the early morning light, Lieutenant Leigh 
led Madame Delmar away. “I have my duties, 
Madame; calm your niece. You are free to direct 
your household,” he remarked. “I shall hold this posi- 
tion until further orders. But one fair warning I give 


20 


SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 


you ! Three hundred men hold La Belle Etoile now. 
On any repetition of the murderous attacks, it will be 
burned to the ground, and so you must send no word 
to your friends above the boom.” 

“And, my poor boy ?” groaned the fair widow. 

“Your nephew will be given all the courtesies of war. 
As my prisoner I am responsible for him — as a human 
being, he will be treated as my brother. Leave a maid 
on watch before your door. Only the Surgeon and 
myself will intrude upon you. Save a broken window, 
your mansion is all intact.” 

Leaping down the stairway, the leader was soon 
clasped in the arms of an old chum, a Lieutenant of 
Marines. 

“Not so bad, Leigh,” said handsome Kennedy. 
“Our two parties have taken sixty-four prisoners, 
eighty stand of new Enfield rifles, fifty revolvers and 
forty horses. We have both the boat howitzers com- 
manding the levee to north and south. Munson is in 
charge.” 

“I fancy that we will not be troubled again,” soberly 
replied Leigh. “The fleet will cover us with their 
guns ! Wardwell will bring off a tug with rations. He 
will have all Captain Drayton’s orders. So, hold your 
men in hand, and you and I will breakfast here with 
Surgeon Armytage.” 

An hour later the three officers sat down to a break- 
fast served by the colored house attendants who had 
now mysteriously reappeared. 

“Princely old place, this,” muttered Dr. Armytage, 
glancing around as he tqok a glass of Sauterne. " “I’m 
told that Colonel Aristide Villeroi, the owner, is now 
“a Colonelling” with Earl Van Dorn. It is a fair and 
goodly heritage. The young chap above is his son, 
a seceder from the Naval Academy of last year’s class, 
and he has been diligently working on this boom of 
chained hulks.” 

“What will we do with him?” demanded Leigh. 

“I’ll take him off to the Hospital boat to-night,” 
said the Surgeon. ‘He will be all right in a month. 
It’s only a ripping ball wound. So I’ve told this 


SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 


21 


anxious lady, Grande dame and all that,” laughed 
Armytage. “Only — a bit of a fire eater.” 

“There is a niece, a brave girl,” musingly said Jasper 
Leigh, as an old negro butler entered, saying : 
“Madame Delmar would be glad to see the Command- 
ing Officer in the drawing room.” 


CHAPTER II. 

THE NIGHT BATTLE FOR THE MISSISSIPPI! 

Lieutenant Jasper Leigh had thoroughly inspected 
the whole mansion and its surroundings before this 
summons to meet the lady of the manor. A hasty 
counsel of war with Kennedy and Munson of the 
Marines and even that suave old medical veteran 
Surgeon Armytage, decided the young commander to 
hold the whole levee, up to the very end of the great 
boom, which terminated in a mud marsh impassable to 
any river boat carrying even a single gun. 

And so while the twenty-one mortar boats were all 
hammering away as usual, Leigh quickly directed the 
construction of a sandbag epaulment to cover each 
howitzer, hundreds of emptied corn sacks being avail- 
able. 

The eager skirmishers had now swept every acre of 
the Belle Etoile plantation, and soon rounded up sixty- 
five strong negroes who were all set to work to hastily 
cover the guns. 

The cypress banks curving in to within a quarter 
of a mile of the levee, gave two necks of land where 
a single gun and a half company could hold the nar- 
rowed line against a whole regiment. 

“This raid will be an important factor in aiding the 
old Salamander, Farragut, out there,” said Armytage. 
“You should go on board the Hartford and report.” 

“I meant to,” resumed Leigh, gravely, still flushed 
with his victory. “As soon as Josselyn comes, he will 
take command, and I then wish all the men concealed, 
save the troops at the batteries. Let all the women, 


2 2 SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 

and even the children, be held cooped up here under 
strict guard, for one straggler might bring down an 
attack upon us/’ 

The splendor of the magnificent old mansion was 
evident, as in the morning light Jasper Leigh stood 
before Madame Elise Delmar. The former beauty 
lingered fondly with the still blooming Creole widow, 
who waved her visiting captor to a chair, with the air 
of a Zenobia. 

“I thank you, sir, for your humanity,” she said, 
“and for the prompt aid of Surgeon Armytage. I find 
that he is of the old Navy and so, we have many mutual 
friends. Saratoga has been our summer home for 
many years. May I ask your intentions as to my 
nephew ?” 

“I must be brief, Madame,” said Lieutenant Leigh. 
“I intend to hold this left bank until our forces reduce 
New Orleans. You must keep all your people together 
here. My guards will only see that they do not bear 
tidings of our landing to your forces. If you so con- 
duct yourself, not a finger will be lifted. Any treach- 
ery, however, will cause us to burn instantly every 
building, blow up the sugar mills, and remove every 
non-combatant. If you aid me with a loyal compliance, 
no one but Surgeon Armytage and my officers will 
enter your residence. I have already posted my 
guards. But you must aid the Surgeon and protect 
your own interests by a perfect good faith. There is 
a million dollars here at issue.” 

“The same at Le Bocage,” sighed Madame Delmar. 

“You observe that the war is now being brought 
home to you,” sadly said Leigh. “Now, Armytage 
tells me that your nephew 'went out’ last year with the 
Southern middies. He is a mere lad and seems a gal- 
lant one. He fought bravely hand to hand with Ensign 
Ward well. I will not disturb his sleep. I will leave 
him here. Surgeon Armytage intends to make a shore 
hospital of this, salubrious paradise. As a naval grad- 
uate of 'Fifty-five,’ I feel kindly to young Villeroi. He 
is only under the wrong flag.” 

The lady winced but her lustrous eyes gleamed in 
gratitude, when Leigh continued : “You and your 


SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 


23 


niece are safest here. I shall ask our Fleet Captain 
Percival Drayton, to let your nephew remain here 
under his written parole in your care and in Army- 
tage’s hands. By taking the Surgeon into your family 
you will avoid all later official intrusion. The landing 
station for our sick can be made on that knoll under 
the grove over there.” 

“Do you think that you will conquer?” whispered 
the tearful Southern widow. 

“One week from to-day our fleet will ride at anchor 
before New Orleans,” quietly replied Leiph. “Look 
there!” he drew aside a curtain. The morning sun 
glistened upon twenty-six men-of-war, slowly 
swinging at anchor in three great divisions. “That 
signal,” proudly cried Leigh, “on the Hartford is, 
‘Captains come on board/ Farragut is giving his last 
orders now. I say this to you as neither your niece 
nor yourself will be allowed to leave or write letters 
until we reduce or pass the forts. Any one stealing 
out of my lines will be instantly shot. Do not mistake 
my politeness. Twenty-five of these murderous rifle- 
men lie awaiting burial, forty are wounded and we 
have ninety prisoners. It is a stern lesson. Your 
friends will soon sadly learn that this war is not one- 
sided.” 

“But the boom, the great forts, a hundred guns, the 
sixteen heavy vessels of our river fleet, the batteries 
and regiments at Chalmette. Commodore Hollins 
drove your whole fleet off with the iron-plated 
Manassas said Madame Delmar. “The river is full 
of* ready fire-rafts.” 

Leigh’s cheek flushed in shame. “Farragut is a 
heart of oak,” he cried, “he will go through your boom 
and fleet, or sink every ship of his fleet. Trust me, 
one week from to-day Farragut will be a dead man or 
else your rams, and the Manassas and Louisiana will 
be at the bottom of the river. He knows every inch of 
this region, and our ready gold keeps the spies of New 
Orleans busy. He was a boy here.” 

“What would you advise me to do?” cried Madame 
Delmar. “Judge Villeroi is cooped up in New Or- 
leans. My niece, Felicie, an orphan heiress, came here 


24 SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 

from Lc Bocage, trusting in Hollins’ invincibility. 
Colonel Villeroi, Henri’s father, is in the field. A 
hideous struggle will soon occur.” 

“Where are your nearest friends?” kindly asked 
Leigh. 

“At Mobile,” sighed Madame Delmar. 

“If we conquer, as we will,” said Leigh, “I will try 
to have you safely sent over there with your niece. 
New Orleans is a turbulent town. General Butler has 
fifteen thousand men now landing at Lake Borgne 
from Ship Island. He will take both the forts in the 
rear. The Crescent City will be filled with the debris 
of your army, the camp followers of ours. It will be a 
social hell.” 

“We have a hunting camp, a shore station, on the 
sea line of the east shore, near Bird Island,” cried 
Madame Delmar. “Our sailing yacht is there. We 
could go away to Mobile in that with your pass. For 
God’s sake, do not send Henri to a Yankee prison.” 

Leigh smiled kindly. “Compose yourself, Ma- 
dame,” he said. “Let Miss Felicie stay and nurse her 
cousin. Act in perfect faith with me. I will see what 
I can do with Captain Drayton. I will give you my 
word that he shall not be dragged away while I can 
prevent it. But he must act on the lines of honor, also, 
and moreover, Miss Felicie must engage in no roman- 
tic schemes.” 

“You have my word of honor,” said the duenna. 
“These children are like my own, and, Felicie shall 
bind herself as well as Henri.” 

“Then,” replied Leigh, “deal as a sister with Sur- 
geon Armytage. Don’t fret over the fortunes of war. 
We will preserve your property, even if the Colonel is 
with Van Dorn. It is Hodie mihi, eras tibi in active 
service. I’ll have a talk with this brave youngster to- 
night. Fear nothing. I am going off to the fleet and 
will return at sundown.” 

“There speaks the gallant Annapolis man,” said 
Elise Delmar. “I will see that your officers have every 
comfort.” 

“And you must control your negroes !” sternly said 


SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 


25 


Leigh. “A defunct African is an unsightly object, and 
my sentinels have drawn the dead lines/’ 

Out in the dining-room, Master Eugene Josselyn, 
U. S. N., set down his glass of Graves to congratulate 
his senior. “Steam launch waiting to take you on 
board,” cried Josselyn. “Give me your orders. Ward- 
well tells me that they cleaned up the right bank last 
night. We now hold all the shores up to the boom. 
Hasten away, for the Admiral has sent for you.” 

Jasper Leigh was happy at heart as he darted away 
to the Hartford in a steam launch under Wardwell’s 
skilled guidance. 

“The men are all rationed, and two launches armed 
with riflemen and boat howitzers are patrolling our 
whole line. I have a store of rockets here and a signal 
quartermaster. At the first sign of alarm, three hun- 
dred men will re-inforce us. Drayton is overjoyed.” 

“Good!” cried Leigh. “And— the fight?” 

“There has been a council of Captains. Our negro 
spies report the shells as only sinking in the mud. 
The forts are all intact. But a score are killed so far. 
They hide like rats in their bomb proofs. And of the 
hundred guns in the forts, not one is dismounted. 
Mortar fire is ‘Vox et praetarea nihil.’” 

“What will Farragut do?” anxiously asked Leigh. 

“He will not wait to get the Colorado over the 
Southwest Pass. The two weeks lost on the Pensa- 
cola’s lighterage is enough. It’s only thirty miles to 
New Orleans. The old man will go in, if he has to 
fight his way every inch!” 

“Who leads?” eagerly demanded Leigh. 

“Red Division, the Cayuga, the gallant old Captain 
Theodorus Bailey. White Division, the Hartford , 
Flag Officer Farragut; the Blue, Captain H. H. Bell 
in the Scioto, and there will be fighting enough for all.” 

Ten minutes later, Jasper Leigh stood in the cabin 
of the Hartford, a ship as yet virgin of battle, facing 
a smooth shaven compact man of sixty-one. The blood- 
stained plans taken from the Confederate boy officer 
were spread out before David Glascoe Farragut, while 
the courtly Drayton leaned over his chief’s shoulder. 

There was a twinkle in the Flag Officer’s eyes as 


26 SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 

he said: “Sit down, Commander, and make your re- 
port !” 

The old hero of the Essex listened in a stern silence. 

“Captain Drayton will send you all your orders,” he 
said. “ You have done well. I will let Armytage make 
a shore health station at La Belle Etoile. I know the 
old place .well. Aristide Villeroi was a gallant Mexi- 
can War officer, and he will soon be heard of, unless 
his fifty-five years have cooled his once hot blood. 
Judge Pierre, his brother, is a leading New Orleans 
lawyer, and poor Henri, the owner of Le Bocage, was 
a prince of men when he fell before Senator Bien- 
venue’s pistol in a duel.” 

The report all discussed, the old hero said: “Let 
this boy stay there. I’ll keep you in command. The 
lad cannot go far with a ball in his shoulder. We will 
see what we will do with him after we leave the city. 
Now, Commander, your rank will be only gazetted 
after the Department has confirmed it. I wish to claim 
you for a special service. Get back to La Belle Etoile. 
Examine all the negroes there. Some of them must 
have worked on this boom. It is of heavy logs, hulks 
and chains. They have made an opening to let fire 
rafts down on us. We have already grappled with 
two, towed them ashore and so saved our fleet. They 
will soon send more down. Find out all you can of 
this construction. Reconnoitre the boom closely before 
dark. Leave Josselyn in temporary command. I have 
a strong force on the other bank. I’ll send barges for 
all your prisoners. They can help us as coal heavers 
in going up. 

“At dark I will send you a steam launch. Bring anv 
negroes who know where the gap has been arranged 
and the movable fastenings. You will then report to 
Lieutenant C. H. B. Caldwell of the Itasca. He goes 
up to-night to cut that boom, and we will keep it open 
later with our fire. Aid him and then return to your 
shore station. You have done nobly in your first shore 
expedition, Commander.” 

“May I ask a favor,” said Leigh. 

Farragut’s eyes grew cold and stern. “And it is?” 

“That I may go up the river on the first vessel ! Our 


SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 


27 


mortar fire is doing them no damage, and, I know it. 
Of course, it only keeps them guessing,” said Leigh. 

The American Nelson smiled kindly on the alert 
young officer. “Bailey will lead in the Cayuga ” he 
replied simply, “and specially attack Fort St. Philip. 
You’ll get all the fighting you want with him! The 
Hartford draws too much water to manoeuvre as easily 
as the Cayuga. I wish only to keep their gunners 
scourged off the ramparts in passing. Let Josselyn 
take command of the ‘B Division’ and the shore till 
your return and you can later relieve him !” calmly 
commanded the Flag Officer. “You will command 
both the shores then from the forts to the passes on 
your new rank. Caldwell will send you to aid the com- 
mander of the Red Division when we go up. I want 
all the information you can gain for Captain Bailey 
as to the channel and the depth of water in the river.” 

Saluting silently, Jasper Leigh darted away, gazing 
at the feverish activity of every man visible on the 
twenty-six heavy fighting war vessels, the greatest 
fleet which America had ever mustered “Victory or 
death” seemed to be in the air, as he was hastened back 
over the muddy waters of the swollen stream. 

For three hours Jasper Leigh was busy with his 
officers at La Belle Etoile, where a headquarters had 
been established in the Overseer’s cottage. The only 
sign of the forcible occupation was the stately marines 
treading as sentinels the garden walks and the flag 
station on the roof of the old mansion, whence orders 
were sent by signals to the two batteries, the patrolling 
steamers and the outlying detachments. 

When a half dozen negro artificers had disclosed all 
the secrets of the boom, Leigh placed them in charge 
of Boatswain Hannigan. “Keep these fellows to- 
gether,” ordered Leigh. “You will go up with me 
to-night to help cut the boom, and we may need these 
darkies to show us the neat devices of ‘Johnny Reb.’ ” 

“Grim visaged war had smoothed its wrinkled 
front,” for Surgeon Armytage on the veranda was 
softly exchanging pleasing assurances with Madame 
Delmar, whose velvety eyes had not forgotten their 
early cunning. The lady had found her way to an 


2 8 SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 

easy sovereignty over the debonair old Esculapius, and 
Leigh also knew from his subordinates of the many 
courtesies extended to the good-humored landing 
party. 

Only a raw red trench, out in the orchard, showed 
where twenty-five brave men had sealed their faith to 
“Dixie’s Land” with their hearts’ blood. The prison- 
ei s had been all deported to the fleet, and a Sergeant’s 
guard watched over the listed negro men. A muster 
of every human soul had warned the captives of their 
serious situation. A strong cordon of pickets sur- 
rounded the plantation, the forces, not on duty, gar- 
risoning the sugar mills and great store houses. 

But for the thunder of the roaring mortars, drop- 
ping their two hundred and sixty-five pound shells 
regularly every minute in each of the two forts, the 
scene would have been delightful. Pennants and ban- 
ners on the broad river, twinkling bayonets on the 
shore, and yet, the grimly silent forts, the hidden fleet 
lurking there above the bend, and the hundreds of 
bonfires and fire rafts ready to signal the dreaded 
Yankee attack proved the determination of Commo- 
dore Hollins and General Mansfield Lovell. 

The negroes had yielded up a vast amount of valu- 
able details and Madame Delmar at last obligingly pro- 
duced a “New Orleans True Delta” of the day before, 
its “leader” demonstrating the impossibility of the 
Yankees reaching the Crescent City. 

“It is certain that they keep their shot till they need 
them,” mused Leigh, as he begged Madame Delmar 
to escort him to the sick room. “I must have that 
young gentleman’s written parole,” he said to Army- 
tage. 

“Fifteen minutes only, there,” said the Surgeon, sip- 
ping the wine and selecting a cheroot. “A patient is 
a patient, even in the uniform of that excellent but 
misguided gentleman, Jefferson Davis.” 

On the threshold of Henri Villeroi’s room, the 
stately widow paused. “Be gentle to him in his mis- 
fortune,” she pleaded. “Henri was to have joined 
Raphael Semmes on the Sumter, when she ran out last 
June. But he was kept working on this great boom and 


SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 


2 9 


as aid to Commodore Hollins. He was on the Ma- 
nassas when it drove your fleet to sea. And he wished 
so much to serve abroad with Semmes.” 

“Yes, but the Kearsarge now has the Sumter nailed 
up in Gibraltar,” said Leigh. “Cheer up, your nephew 
may be soon exchanged, and yet be able to get out ot 
the South. It will probably save his life.” 

In ten minutes Jasper Leigh had concluded his offi- 
cial business with the feverish lad, whose bright eyes 
wandered lovingly over Leigh’s familiar uniform. 

Aiding the lad to use his left hand, the officer care- 
fully folded up Villeroi’s written parole “not to serve 
against the United States until duly and regularly ex- 
changed.” 

Commander Leigh followed the lad’s eyes as he 
glanced at the captured sword still bearing the eagle 
of the United States and the foul anchors with its blade 
etched U. S. N. 

“I will not deprive you of your sword, Villeroi,” 
kindly said Leigh. “You have had no good fortune 
in the encounter, but you are out of your element with 
these guerilla miscreants. Keep your sword! You 
belong by right to us. After the struggle is over, you 
may yet live to draw this same sword for the ‘Stars 
and Stripes.’ Far across the stormy lines of battle, I 
can seen the vision of a greater country, new stars in 
our flag, and net an old one lost or dimmed. A land 
united at home, feared and respected abroad.” 

“Southern rights,” muttered the wounded boy, as 
tears stole into his eyes. 

They had talked of the “Old Academy,” of the 
ancient school ships, Dale, Macedonian, and Savannah, 
of the still remembered “Middv” life, and the chants 
of “All along the Coast of the High Barbaree.” 

But the graceful figure of the beautiful girl at Vil- 
leroi’s bedside was still motionless, her eyes turned 
away. Leigh had not even heard again the voice which 
had so thrilled him in its gallant defiance of the armed 
entrance to the stately old home. 

“I will leave you now, Villeroi,” kindly said Leigh. 
I am going up the river on a little business for a few 
days, but I shall return and then be in charge of the 


30 SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH* 

lower coast. So you may be assured of kind treat- 
ment. There will be no trouble as to your speedy ex- 
change. Leave all that to me.” 

“Great God!” mourned Henri Villeroi. “To be 
out of this fight — your fleet is going up ?” 

“We are some days overdue at New Orleans,” 
quietly said Leigh, “but Lieutenant Josselyn will have 
my orders. And Surgeon Armytage is a fine old fel- 
low. Flag Officer Farragut has placed your case in 
my hands. If I am not killed, you will be all right, 
for, my boy, we are comrades, after all. There’s only 
one Navy, you know, the old ‘pride of the land/ Your 
best men were then, our best men.” 

The dark-eyed lad turned his sad eyes upon Leigh. 
“Commander,” he murmured, “you are a gentleman. 
You have treated my people well here, and my father, 
Colonel Villeroi will know of it. We Villerois never 
forget.” 

“Now I will leave you,” said Leigh, glancing at the 
immovable form of the graceful girl. “If I’m not back 
in a week, Villeroi, then — you’ll know that I’m covered 
with the old flag, and — ‘mustered out.’ But, good for- 
tune to you, even should that happen. Captain Dray- 
ton will see that you are gently treated. Our Flag 
Officer Farragut knows your family.” 

“You’ve been awfully kind to me,” murmured 
Henri, as Jasper Leigh returned his hand grasp. 

As he stepped to the door below, Felicie Villeroi 
barred his way. Her eyes rested imploringly upon him 
in their mournful eloquence. “Don’t think me un- 
grateful, Commander,” she murmured. “I know that 
you have treated Henri like a brother. You were gal- 
lant not to take away his sword. You must come back 
to us,” she said slowly, as she held out a slender hand. 

But neither Elise Delmar nor Henri Villeroi heard 
her whisper: “Do not be too headlong. Come back 
and save us from the strangers’ trampling feet.” 

She was a vision of delight, this dark-robed girl of 
eighteen, whose thrilling voice glided from one melodv 
to another in changing sweetness. Graceful, and in 
the very flush of the opening rose of life, her sweet 


SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 


3 1 


eyes gleamed with the unawakened passions of her 
ardent race. 

Jasper turned away with a sigh to contemplate the 
deserted plantation, the unguarded mansion, the lonely 
paradise given over to fate to be the forfeit of the 
chances of war. And then, his lonely heart still stirred 
by the passionate outburst of the proud and helpless 
girl, his eye sought the great battle ensign waving at 
the mizzen of the Hartford. 

When the stars were mirrored in the broad river, in 
the gloom, Jasper Leigh walked down alone through 
the deserted gardens, towards the shore, where the 
Itasca's launch was already tenanted by Boatswain 
Hannigan and the imprisoned negroes. 

Like a wraith a slender figure glided out from be- 
tween the trees of the lover’s walk. 

“May God protect you !” sighed Felicie Villeroi. 
“I only came to tell you,” she faltered, “that Henri 
wishes you sailor’s luck. I look to you, alone, to guard 
him in case of your victory. Farewell! Remember 
we women here will pray that you may be spared.” 

Lifting her hand to his lips, Jasper Leigh cried : “A 
friendless man returns your kindly greeting, and tell 
Henri, ‘there’s a little cherub that sits up aloft to watch 
over the fate of “Poor Jack.” * If we could only meet 
in happier days, Miss Felicie, we would find that we 
have a common birthright of life, love and liberty. 
God bless you all. You are safe as if the Stars and 
Bars waved here!” 

“Safe!” sobbed the startled girl, as the tall officer 
strode down to the shore. “He goes to his death,” she 
wailed, “And, alone!” 

At the strand, Josselyn, Wardwell and Armvtage 
said adieu to Jasper Leigh. 

“I’ll be with you in a week,” gaily cried Leigh. 
“This bit of detached duty will not keep me long 
away.” 

Commander Leigh was delighted when safely hid- 
den in the cabin of the Itasca with the dauntless Cald- 
well, the negroes being turned over to the Master-at- 
Arms. 


32 SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 

“No one knows of your plans for to-night ?” anx- 
iously queried Caldwell. 

“Not a soul!” replied Jasper. “I deceived even 
Armytage.” 

“That’s well. Listen,” said Caldwell. 

“A dozen heavily armed launches will support our 
movement. But we only desire to make a gap for the 
fleet, and provoke no conflict. The launches will hide 
to the right and left behind us. Only, if seriously at- 
tacked, we must hold the whole boom, but the Flag 
Officer will not be ready to dash up for three days. 
Butler’s men must all be first safely landed between 
the forts and New Orleans.” 

An hour later all the negroes had been examined 
and Caldwell joyously made ready the armorers, his 
forlorn hope party of mechanics and landsmen, to 
break the great obstruction. 

“You have done wonders, Leigh,” said Caldwell, “I 
know now just where to find the hidden loose couplings 
to quickly break the barrier. And from now on, our 
lighter boats will sweep the broken span, if needed, 
with grape and canister and so prevent any permanent 
repair.” 

“Can we beat them, if we go up ?” said Leigh. 

“My God, we must!” solemnly said Caldwell. 
“Here is our Waterloo as yet unfought, and, I believe 
Farragut to be a Wellington in nerve and a Nelson 
in skill. So far, our record is a pitiful one. Even an 
old rat hole Havana steamer, the Sumter , has roamed 
all over the Atlantic in flaunting pride.” 

“And Farragut — our men?” asked Leigh. 

“He is going into his first action as a commander 
at sixty-one! Think of it! said Caldwell. “The plan 
has had Secretary Welles’ approval — our best men at 
Washington have all aided. He told Drayton so the 
other day. I have now attained what I have been look- 
ing for all my life,” said he, “a Flag Officer’s com- 
mand, and I will win a victory, or die! Certainly, 
Leigh,” said Caldwell, “no man in our Navy is an 
abler man in experience than Farragut. And yet 
Foote, Dupont and Goldsborough have already won 
battle laurels ! Our men are frantic to revenge the dis- 


SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 


33 


grace of Hollins’ raid. They swear that the Manassas 
must sink with all on board !” 

“It’s a frightful venture, this vast fleet hazarded 
upon Farragut’s still undeveloped ability as a leader !” 
said Leigh. 

“But the officers and men will back him till the last 
drop of blood,” resolutely said Caldwell. “Now for 
all lights out. And with our landing parties mustered 
and boats in tow, we will creep along to the boom.” 

At midnight, the Itasca loomed up, a dark shadow, 
in the starless night, only lit up by the whirling fuses 
of the shells, and the distant red gleam of the mortar 
blasts. 

In grim silence the boats drifted away from the 
Itasca. After the launch parties had been discerned 
hovering in the murky gloom, ready to land three 
hundred men on the boom. 

With muffled oars, Caldwell and Leigh swept along 
the line of hulks each holding a pistol to the head of 
a frightened negro. 

“There’s the three movable boats,” signaled the 
quaking Africans, as at a dozen points, the covering 
boats now clung to the great boom. 

Forty men with padded sledge hammers, keen cold 
chisels, fresh files, and every appliance of art, worked 
like bees in the darkness, until one of the great hulks 
was finally cut loose and only held in place by a few 
strands of manila. Two others were detached by filing 
all the chains and toggles, so that the mere touch of a 
gun boat’s prow would loosen them instantly. 

Not a gun from the forts, not a volley from a picket 
boat disturbed them. 

It was three o’clock when the launches drifted si- 
lently and safely away: The sawyers had easily sev- 
ered the heavy logs, though quadrupled and triple 
chained. Together in the last boats, Caldwell and 
Leigh, with their keen cutlasses, cut the last detaining 
ropes. 

Down the dark river, a helpless derelict, the middle 
hulk floated, leaving one on each side, hanging now 
onlv by a few threads of metal. 

“There’s our thoroughfare,” joyously cried Cald- 


34 


SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 


well. “Give way ! I’ll leave you in command to watch 
this gap while 1 take the steam launch and report to 
Drayton.” 

Standing on the quarter deck of the Itasca , Jasper 
Leigh swept every hulk of the huge obstruction with 
his night glasses, in the two hours of Caldwell’s ab- 
sence. “Not a creeping form, not a single sly picket 
boat, not a puffing tug. Sixteen war vessels crowded 
with men around the bend, and not a man in sight,” 
mused Leigh. “They wish to tempt us in to our des- 
truction. On the cold courage of Farragut, the skill 
of Bailey and Bell, our country’s honor is wagered.” 

A deck officer leaped to Leigh’s side. “Looks as if 
the hulks were breaking loose, sir,” he reported, as 
three great black forms came slowly drifting through 
the gap in the middle current. 

“Ah, they mean mischief !” shouted Leigh, calling 
all hands to quarters, and then rapidly sending his 
orders to the engineers. 

For, a bright light suddenly burst out of the heart 
of each great fire raft, now nearing the Itasca , flat 
boats piled with fat pine, and smeared over with tar 
and turpentine. 

Hastily throwing up rockets to warn the fleet below, 
Leigh manned boats to tow the now blazing rafts 
ashore, opening with grape and shot on the barrier 
now swarming with men. 

In the tops, his riflemen mercilessly picked off the 
enemy, crowded in three great river boats, one secretly 
guiding each fire raft, now a raging volcano. 

Far and wide the glare lit up the stream, showing 
the fleet below, every ship bursting into light as the 
alert crews sent a flotilla of heavy boats to guide the 
now helpless fire rafts out of the fleet. 

The Union picket boats scourged the line of hulks 
now strewed with dead and dying, and the Itasca, with 
two consorts, boldly stood by and poured a cross fire 
into the open gap. 

When day broke, a vicious cannonade from Jackson 
and St. Philip proved the rage of the Confederates, 
the shot glancing harmlessly from the hexagonal iron 
casemates of the mortar schooners. 


SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 35 

Anxious, yet triumphant, Caldwell soon rejoined 
Jasper Leigh. “All right!” he cheerily cried. “Every 
ship is on spring cables now, and two days more will 
see us around that bend. Farragut will move in at 
my private signal. I am to watch the open gap. 
Three light boats will patrol night and day to tow 
away rafts. Secretly,” said Caldwell, “he is ready 
now — only hoping that they will dash down on us, 
as they did before.” 

“Never!” said Leigh. “They wish their forts to 
cripple us first, and the fleet to then fight us, above, 
where the water is too shallow for the big ships to 
manoeuvre well in the bend. Any damage from the 
rafts? asked Leigh. We killed a hundred of their 
desperate men.” 

“Only two boats’ sides scorched, by drifting too 
near each other in quickly getting away,” said Cald- 
well. 

“How will I know the time for action?” said Leigh. 

“When I send you on the Cayuga ” gravely an- 
swered Caldwell. “And you must not even give a hint 
to your party ashore. The twenty-six Captains are 
all ready for the battle signal, now. Lion-hearted, our 
old Chief may be, but he is also a fox in craft. See 
how peaceful all looks. But every man is at his post.” 

On this fourth day of the ceaseless mortar bombard- 
ment, even the most nervous ear had grown accus- 
tomed to the softened roar and the whirling shells only 
excited the derision of the eager sailors. 

Three long weary days passed while Jasper Leigh, 
in desperation, executed a dozen schemes of close re- 
connaissance of the silent bend above the boom. 

Not a Southern man or Confederate boat was in 
sight, and but a dozen random shots proved the forts 
to be still intact under the pitiless rain of shells. An 
alien flag, the life dream of a hundred daring Southron 
statesmen, defiantly flaunted upon the huge casemated 
works. 

Alone on the quarter-deck, at ten o’clock of the 
moonlight night of April twenty-third, Leigh sprang 
to his feet as Caldwell turned away from a young 
middy who had dashed alongside in a steam launch. 


36 SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 

“Gather up your traps, old fellow,” cheerily said the 
leader of the naval scouts. “In half an hour you will 
be on the deck of the Cayuga 

“To-night?” gasped Leigh, his heart leaping up 
in the warrior’s noble rage. 

“When you see three red lanterns at the mizzen 
truck of the Itasca , and the same on the Hartford , then 
you will know that our twenty-six vessels are all get- 
ting under way.” 

With a last silent hand grasp, Leigh went over the 
ship’s side, sword, cloak and valise in hand, as the 
Itasca slowly forged along, curving towards the gap 
in the boom. 

The night was calm and still and dark, the water 
lapped the sides of the bustling little launch, and the 
rich magnolia perfume was wafted from La Belle 
Etoile over the inky waters of the great stream. 

Hardly a light was visible save the masthead signals, 
as Jasper Leigh ran up the jacob’s ladder of the: 
Cayuga. 

With a start he saw the grim forms of two hundred 
men huddled around their guns. In low tones on the 
quarter-deck, he soon answered the grave questions of 
the beloved Theodorus Bailey. 

One hand shake all around in the ward room, and 
then, girt with his sword and pistols, Leigh with a 
fierce madness burning in his veins, took his post at 
the side of the leader of the Red Division. 

“Clear for action !” quietly ordered Captain Bailey 
at eleven o’clock, when three baleful red stars gleamed 
out on the dashing Itasca and the unbaptized Hartford 
showed the same three miles below the line of hulks. 

Down in the engine-rooms, fierce fires were now 
roaring — like lions at bay the three hundred chafed 
until the engine bells clanged, and their echoes sent a 
thrill to every man’s heart. 

It had seemed an age, these four and a half hours 
of dreary waiting, as the furtive signals were ex- 
changed between the three great divisions. 

Seven heavy vessels had crept up behind the Cayuga , 
within a couple of cables’ lengths of interval, as the 


SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 


37 


word was softly passed from gun to gun. “Show them 
the way, Cayuga!” 

At full speed, her battle flags now broken out, at 
Bailey’s cold command, the Cayuga dashed through 
the roaring gap in the line of hulks, steering right into 
the teeth of Fort St. Philip ! 

Leigh, noting the pilot’s stern orders, glanced 
back to where La Belle Etoile lay, with only a few 
twinkling lights’ telling of the growing settlement. 

“Would she care?” thought Leigh, “if I stopped a 
ball?” 

A hoarse shout aroused him as the whole bend, both 
banks, and the lines of the two forts now , ablaze, leaped 
into the light of day. 

Bonfires, lurking rafts, dismantled buildings, huge 
beacons cast a hellish glare of unnatural noon over the 
whole river. 

Turning his head involuntarily, Jasper Leigh saw 
the seven consorts sweeping through the gap. And 
now, dead ahead, the embrasures of St. Philip belched 
flame and its thunder growls added to the crash of 
Porter’s bombardment. On, on, the Cayuga sped, her 
starboard battery scourging the parapets of St. Philip ! 

But as the fire of Fort Jackson burst out on the port 
bow, the yellow waters flaring in the noon-day glare 
of the raging flames, showed eleven Rebel steamers 
sweeping down on the lonely Cayuga! A desperate 
juncture ! 

With wild yells from the gunners, both heavy bat- 
teries were turned loose like lightning. 

Five minutes later, in the din of doomsday, Leigh 
saw one of their antagonists in flames caught on a 
sand-spit, and another, drifting downstream crippled 
and sinking. 

A hoarse shout of triumph rent the air as the Vanina 
and Oneida tore along to aid the environed Cayuga. 
This weird starless night was lighter than noon-day ! 

“Hurrah, Oneida!” yelled the marines, as the swift 
consort plowed through a Rebel gun-boat, cutting her 
nearly in two. 

In the raging hell of missiles, on the port beam, 
Leigh saw the Vanina torn with Fort Jackson’s heavy 


38 SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 

fire, backing slowly off from a dismantled enemy, and 
then, with a fierce broadside, blow the boilers out of a 
second assailant which had crept up on her starboard 
bow. 

“Cayuga! Cayuga !” madly yelled the gunners, as the 
gallant boat swept on, in the lead, a moving volcano. 

Casting a glance over his shoulder, Leigh saw the 
other two divisions at last slowly passing the gap in 
the line of hulks, now set on fire by our boarders. 

“All up but two, sir!” cried the signal Lieutenant 
to Captain Bailey, as he touched Jasper’s arm. 
“There’s your duty, sir. Take the port battery. Os- 
born’s down!” 

Leaping to the gun deck, Leigh blind with the glare 
of battle, deafened by the explosions, strode over the 
blood-splashed, white-washed deck, in a fierce strange 
delirium of exaltation. There was the Hartford , now 
raking Fort Jackson with a dreadful half range fire 
of grape and canister, majestically swimming on the 
lurid lake of the bend, with the whole fire of a hundred 
guns directed upon Farragut’s flag of blue stars on the 
bow-sprit, leading the White Division, under the three 
huge Star Spangled Banners which drooped in the 
deadened air. 

“Two we’ve sunk!” yelled Leigh in delight, “before 
she has run alongside an enemy.” 

But the huge flagship, seeking deeper water, crossed 
boldly over to St. Philip, pouring a terrific fire on the 
ramparts where the maddened Confederates nobly 
stuck to their guns. In this Walpurgis night, Leigh 
urging his gunners on, saw Boggs grimly run the 
victorious Varuna on shore, lashing her to the trees 
with heavy hawsers as she settled firing her last guns 
deliberately into the packed vessels of the brave enemy. 

“ Manassas ! The Manassas!’* yelled a hundred 
voices, as the grim old sloop of war Mississippi, lead- 
ing up the four slower vessels of Bailey’s division, 
grappled with the defiant iron ram, which had shamed 
the five blockaders at the Southwest Pass. The most 
dreaded foe! 

With yells of rage, the crews of the four followers 
saw this battle to the death. Five hundred guns were 
all thundering in a mad chorus as the Mississippi gave 


SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 


39 


the Manassas a terrific broadside, which made the 
heavy sloop quiver to her keel. 

Swinging grandly, the sloop then gave the shattered 
ram the other battery’s whole fire, and then with yells 
of triumph, “Boarders away!” the Mississippi men 
swarmed on the sinking iron clad, fired her, a helpless 
riddled wreck, which sank ten minutes later in a ter- 
rific explosion. 

Darting to the quarter-deck a moment, to answer a 
question as to the channel, Leigh stood at Captain 
Bailey’s side, as the old sailor gravely said: “There 
is the American Nelson. Look at the grand old man !” 

The Hartford was ashore under the guns of St. 
Philip. A sheet of flar»e swept her port quarter as a 
tug pushed a large fire raft against the flagship. 

“Look ! Look there !” cried Leigh, as a great steamer 
crowded with men swept out of the smoke wreaths to 
board the Hartford. 

There was a tearing broadside, the assailant, rocked, 
careened and then plunged downward, as the Hartford 
majestically backed off into deep water, the flames ex- 
tinguished ! 

Twenty-four Union vessels were now above the 
blazing river booms, the broad Mississippi was filled 
with floating fire rafts, sneaking tugs, abandoned boats, 
floating wrecks and, hideous corpses whirled in the 
surging waters. 

Eighteen vessels were far beyond the baffled forts 
now, whose fire had ceased to scourge the passing 
ships. And every Union gun was now bearing upon the 
remnants of sixteen Confederate vessels which had 
been fought to a frazzle.” 

Only the victorious Vanina, the two warships tan- 
gled in the broken boom, and one disabled by a pierced 
boiler were absent, when Bell, in the Scioto led his 
eight fresh vessels into the jaws of the forts, silencing 
them and capturing or riddling the few Confederate 
boats cut off between the Hartford and the forts. 

Sweeping grandly by the whole three divisions, were 
now safe from the iron sleet of the vaunted forts, on 
whose crowded parades, Porter quickly rained the 
shells of his twenty-one mortar schooners. 


40 SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 

Five Confederate steamers driven back up stream, 
now vainly battled with the Union ships closing in at 
full speed. 

“Their fire slackens !” cried a lookout. 

“Past the forts, we have New Orleans at our 
mercy!” shouted Leigh, as the Cayuga swung dan- 
gerously near the right bank in avoiding an enormous 
fire raft. On the port bow, a heavy cotton clad tug, 
with a steel beak, sped out to ram the Cayuga. 

As the command to depress the guns and fire the 
whole battery, left Leigh’s lips, the Captain and Pilot 
of the Lovell , cried to a clump of riflemen: “Shoot 
that Yankee officer!” 

As the deafening roar diedtaway, Leigh whirled and 
fell to the deck from the companion way. 

“Quick!” yelled a Sergeant of Marines, pointing 
with his sword, and his whole squad of twelve, then 
fired point blank into the clump on the Lovell's deck. 

With a sickening, staggering plunge, the Lovell 
went down bow first, a yell of despair rising over the 
thunder of the guns. 

“The Cumberland is avenged !” muttered Jasper 
Leigh, as his nearest gun’s crew tenderly lifted him. 
Down the slippery, blood-stained stairs to the cock pit 
Leigh was borne, as the Cayuga swept on into the 
sickly gray of the dawn in victory. 

There was nothing left of the task behind them save 
the gathering of the wreck, as Bailey sternly still 
showed the way. 

The decks were cleared, the heated guns cooled, as 
the six other vessels of the Red followed the Cayuga. 
On behind them came the Hartford, where Wain- 
wright and Thornton stood, sword in hand, watching 
that calm old hero on the high poop deck. 

David Glascoe Farragut gazed behind him at the 
smoke-encircled fortresses, the broadened river where 
no Rebel flag now flew, and called Drayton to his 
side. 

The low chilling fogs, the battle smoke, still clung to 
the yellowed waters. There was not a moving hull 
in sight, but those which bore the banners of Uncle 
Sam. “Porter will soon get word from Butler,” he 


SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 41 

k 

said. “Half speed, and pipe all hands to breakfast! 
Bailey can handle everything ahead of him. Signal to 
Bell to follow the Flagship’s movements. It has been a 
hot night!” 

Three deafening cheers rang out as the guns of the 
Hartford were left to cool. 

But thirty-seven killed, a hundred and fifty-seven 
wounded, lay on the decks of the Union fleet. 

Fifty gunners were killed in the two Confederate 
forts, while thirteen Confederate steamers were cap- 
tured, sunken or destroyed. Their crews were slaught- 
ered ! 

The huge black smoke pillars rose behind them, the 
bodies — a thousand men floated, ghastly corpses 
towards the sea, the desperate souls who had manned 
the river fleet of the Stars and Bars. 

“The forts will soon fall with no serious conflict,” 
gravely said the flag officer, over his dish of tea. “Of 
course, they will telegraph up to New Orleans, and we 
will find all the levee ablaze there. I’m told there are 
two hundred and fifty thousand bales of cotton ready 
there to burn.” 

“I think I shall have to call you ‘Admiral’ now,” 
said Percival Drayton. “But there is still the Louisi- 
ana ahead of us and the Anglo-N orman.” 

“Bah,” said Farragut, “Bailey will attend to the 
Louisiana. The other will be burned on the stocks. 
If they do not, I will gladly oblige them myself, for at 
noon to-morrow, I will lay off the custom-house.” 

“General Lovell?” said the Fleet Captain. 

“He will clear out,” quietly said the Flag Officer. 
“For, he cannot face Butler’s fifteen thousand men and 
our heavy guns.” 

“It has been a night of horror,” said Captain Dray- 
ton. 

“A dreadful action,” remarked the American Nel- 
son. “But it gives us the river up to Vicksburg. The 
game is up. We have cut the Confederacy in two !” 

While the fire slackened, and the whole fleet was 
safe fifteen miles above the now cut off forts, Jasper 
Leigh lav in a stateroom of the victorious Cayuga. 
“A rifle ball has ripped around under both his shoulder 


42 SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 

» jk 

blades/’ said the Surgeon, bending over the still un- 
conscious man. “But he will come through all right 
in three months. That was a wise plan to give Army- 
tage a healthy shore station. Now I’ll send Leigh 
down there, and he can wait there for his silver leaves 
of a commander, and listen to the Chief-Surgeon’s 
yarns.” 

“He’s a gallant fellow,” said Theodorus Bailey. 
“And, led us in like a lion. How he picked up all his 
river knowledge, I can’t say. But he held me right a 
dozen times.” 

Six hours later, a whole Confederate regiment en- 
camped at a bend, was cut off in daylight by a swift 
dash of the Cayuga, and surrendered in a mass. 

Before night, while Jasper Leigh lay sleeping under 
opiates, with a group of the leading vessels, now all 
straining to the front, a dozen broadsides of the 
Cayuga and her consorts reduced the Chalmette bat- 
teries. 

“Compliments of our Southern friends,” laughed 
Captain Bailey, as the huge iron-clad Louisiana came 
floating along on fire rushing down the stream that 
evening, a roaring furnace, belching flame until she dis- 
appeared in mid-channel with a terrific snort. “I 
rather fancy they know that we are coming.” 

And all that night, when the whole fleet rendez- 
voused behind a double chain of guard boats, for five 
miles, the curved levees of New Orleans and Algiers 
were lit up with the flames which licked up ten mil- 
lions of dollars. 

Grandly dressed out with the banners of victory, at 
noon on April 25th, the fleet of Farragut swung at 
anchor before a prostrate city, whose maddened citi- 
zens ran into the streets crazed in their despair. 

Their proud silent women felt all the bitterness of 
death when the last Southern troops decamped in haste, 
leaving the gates of New Orleans open to the remorse- 
less Ben Butler. 

While the crews of the battle-torn ships were all 
mustered to prayers, standing on decks still stained 
with the heart’s blood of their comrades, Theodorus 


SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 


43 


Bailey of the Cayuga , with a strong guard, landed and 
raised the flag of the free on the United States Mint. 

A week later, the strong tread of the Union army 
of occupation resounded in New Orleans, the reckless 
Mumford died on a gallows near the flag which he had 
madly hauled down, for the helpless forts had fallen. 
The Queen City of the South was prostrate ! 

On, up the storied Father of Waters, the old Sala- 
mander led his resistless array. Even to Vicksburg, 
past its frowning batteries, from Baton Rouge to 
Grant’s future prey, the Thunder King ruled the 
world’s greatest river. 

In all the horrible scenes of a war unequaled in des- 
perate bravery and scenes of carnage, no sight ever 
shook men’s souls with a deeper terror than the hide- 
ous midnight struggle when Farragut passed the forts. 

“Secure in Fame’s Pantheon — now!” proudly said 
Theodorus Bailey. “The Navy has wiped out the 
Southwest Pass disgrace. And, our blue jackets have 
laureled the American Nelson !” 

The frightful wreck of the levees, the fires consum- 
ing a hundred steamers, the huge ram Anglo-Norman , 
and all the pathway of 'the whirlwind of war was 
cleared away, when faint and helpless, Commander 
Jasper Leigh was borne ashore at La Belle Etoile. 

He was just able to life his hand when Surgeon 
Armytage had the wounded man tenderly borne to 
the coolest guest chamber of the old mansion. 

Henri Villeroi, his arm in a sling, whispered: “I 
am glad that we were beaten by Americans. It was 
the fight of a century !” said the young prisoner. 

Madame Delmar’s tender greeting brought a throb 
of gratitude to Leigh’s heart, but he looked in vain 
for Felicie Villeroi’s beautiful face. 

And yet in his dreams that night, it seemed as if 
some one had leaned over him ; that a woman’s lips had 
touched his brow. And that a voice whispered softly : 
“He shall live. He must live. What said they, 'the 
bravest of the brave?’ He should be of our people, 
this kindly foeman !” 


44 


SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 


CHAPTER III. 

MADAME DELMAR’s DILEMMA! 

On the morning after Jasper Leigh’s arrival at La 
Belle Etoile, the wounded man listened to the cheerful 
charter of Robert Armytage, Medical Director U. S. 
Navy. Leigh wondered at the kindness of Madame 
Delmar in personally serving his morning chocolate, to 
the astonishment of Boatswain Michael Hannigan, 
who had gone up with the Cayuga . 

“Friendly foes,” murmured Leigh, who noted that 
the two middle-aged guardians of his room had fallen 
into the use of the familiar words “Robert” and 
“Elise.” “You seem to be ‘on velvet’ here,” groaned 
Leigh, as his shoulders twitched with the fever of his 
wound. 

“Hang it, man,” cried Armytage. “I cannot be 
rough with women. It’s not in my heart. Now you 
and I must quietly cooperate. I command the Hos- 
pital Station. You are billed to command the lower 
coast from the forts to the passes, with Josselyn as 
executive. Of course, the jig is up. Porter’s mortar 
fleet will go on up the river. I fancy these St. Louis 
tin-clads will do the bulk of the fighting. We will 
easily control Galveston, the Rio Grande, Corpus 
Christi and Indianola. Mobile is a harder nut to crack ! 
Drayton writes me that Farragut will be soon made 
Rear Admiral and given more iron clads. If he goes 
into Mobile, later he will be made Vice-Admiral, and 
with Porter as his second. Poor Foote is dying! 
There is only Charleston, Wilmington and Mobile left 
to reduce. But I fancy the war will drag along for 
years. I hope to keep this station.” 

“Tell me of the fight,” whispered Leigh. 

“By Heavens, it was appalling!” replied the Sur- 
geon. “The negroes you sent ashore had posted us, 
We were all on the roof. Elise” (Leigh smiled faint- 
ly), “Miss Villeroi, and that game boy Henri, were 
the party, for our officers were all at their posts. When 


SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 


45 


that hell on earth lit up, we could see the Cayuga 
dashing up.” 

‘‘She lead grandly,” proudly muttered Leigh, “and 
fired three shots to the Hartford's two from start to 
finish.” 

“Peter planteth, Paul watereth and Apollos gather- 
ed! the increase,” groaned the Doctor. “Bailey and 
Bell earned immortal fame. Farragut, God bless him, 
will get the whole reaping. The Cayuga will be for- 
gotten, save by her own stern warrior brood. No sight 
on earth could equal it,” exclaimed Armytage. “The 
river was aflame for seven miles, the forts were a sheet 
of fire, our ships seemed to swim in a lake of blood, 
the yellow flood lit up by the beacons, rafts and burn- 
ing wrecks. Poor Henri, when the last boat went 
around the bend, when we saw that all but two were 
up, and only one had drifted back, we knew that 
twenty-three ships had burst the lines of death. Then 
the young game-cock yelled, ‘Hurrah for the United 
States Navy! Nothing holds it back.’ Elise was in 
tears, praying on her knees, when I said : “I believe 
you are only half rebel at heart, Henri.” 

“And, Miss Felicie?” softly asked Leigh. 

“Stood like a statue,” carelessly said the Surgeon, 
“only saying: ‘Show me the Cayuga / I don’t know 
how they work this grape vine telegraph, but by ten 
o’clock that morning, ‘Miss Disdain’ whispered to me : 
‘The Cayuga has safely passed up to Chalmette.’ It’s 
the negroes and those poor devils who surrendered to 
Butler who posted her !” 

“I would just like to see the flags flying on the two 
forts, our flags,” gasped Leigh. 

“They are there,” joyously cried the Surgeon. “In 
a week I’ll have you carried up into the lookout on 
the roof. Elise can read to you. Henri is simply mad 
to slave for your comfort.” 

“The garrisons?” demanded Leigh. 

“All shipped off to Ship Island to fight the sand flies 
and mosquitoes. All save three hundred wounded. I 
have seven hundred patients here, and the prisoners. 
An exchange will soon be negotiated by a cartel sent 
over to Mobile. You can thus get rid of Henri, poor 


46 SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 

devil, in four weeks. He is chafing to get knocked in 
the head/’ 

“See here,” muttered Leigh. “Let him alone. He 
is my prisoner. Madame Elise seems to be yours.” 

“And Miss Felicie?” laughed Armytage, whose face 
was crimson now. 

“She is as free as she deserves to be,” gravely said 
Commander Leigh. “I presume she will go away with 
her rebel brother. What will become of this place?” 

“We must save these women from beggary,” anx- 
iously replied Armytage. “Confiscated and abandoned 
estates all escheat to the government, at least, tem- 
porarily. Now, Colonel Villeroi was a too conspicu- 
ous hero at Shiloh. There will be a big battle at 
Corinth soon. To save these innocent women, Felicie, 
who owns Le Bocage and is the Colonel’s ward, must 
be supposed to own La Belle Etoile, also. We must 
spirit Henri away. Up to this time, I am paying for 
all rentals, use of negroes, supplies and all that — and 
we can keep these beautiful estates from devastation.” 

“It’s a fine programme,” growled Leigh. “Did 
Felicie fix this up?” 

“She!” cried the astounded Surgeon. “She’s as 
game as Maria Theresa. Not a word has ever passed 
her proud lips. No, Elise and I have conferred.” 

Leigh laughed even in his pain. “Suppose you go 
and confer with her again,” he muttered. “It’s pleas- 
antest in the garden, and you can take up the chess 
again with the Sauterne and cigarette attachment. I 
will collaborate with you. I’m glad to know that Miss 
Villeroi is not mercenary. She seems both stately and 
reserved.” 

“So I’ve remarked to Elise,” innocently said Army- 
tage, leaving his patient to wonder over these strangely 
“friendly foes.” 

“Poor youngster,” mused Leigh. “He would like 
to be in the thick of it. I must try and save his life. 
It will be a long and cruel war.” 

Before a week was over, Jasper Leigh had fallen 
into an elder brotherhood with the Confederate naval 
neophyte. Armytage’s service duties took up one-half 
of his time, and Madame Elise absorbed the other. 


SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 


47 


A regiment divided between the two banks, from 
the forts to the sea, had its officers’ messes at other 
abandoned mansions. Josselyn and Armytage, with 
a hospital force, a marine guard, two light gun-boats, 
and a hospital steamer with a dozen smart tugs, ad- 
ministered the naval control of the lower delta and the 
Health Station. 

With Henri Villeroi as voluntary reader, the com- 
mander wanted for nothing now. He could exactly 
time Armytage’s absences by the appearance of Ma- 
dame Delmar, now strangely blooming with a softer 
light in her velvet eyes. 

“Wait, wait!” the kindly widow said, “till you can 
come down stairs. We have a superb library, a fine 
music room, and Felicie’s piano and harp will amuse 
you.” 

“Did I not hear a guitar?” innocently asked the 
Commander. 

“Both the Surgeon and myself play a little,” the fair 
widow replied, with softly downcast eyes. 

Two weeks after Leigh’s arrival, a transport brought 
a bundle of delayed Department mail. Besides his 
new commission and a commendatory letter of the 
Noah-like Gideon Welles, there was the accumulation 
of his correspondence sent to the Department. When 
Jasper Leigh listened to a letter of his mother’s execu- 
tors, he sadly said: “Give me that sealed package. 
Put it under my pillow.” 

His heart was strangely stirred. The last loving 
letter sent to await his return from the China Station. 
It seemed as if a tender voice was still calling to him 
from beyond the tomb. 

“Other documents of value deposited in the Bank 
of Elmira, await you — papers which under Mrs. 
Leigh’s instructions, we dared not trust to the uncer- 
tainty of the mails.” So ran the formal words of the 
lawyers. 

“All these estate matters- must wait. I must trust 
to them,” mused Commander Leigh, as Henri Villeroi 
brought his beautiful cousin in to write the few words 
needed in each case. “My crippled shoulder and your 
own wound have forced us to impress Cousin Felicie,” 


43 SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 

gravely said Henri, “but we will both soon be fit for 
duty, thanks to Armytage.” 

Jasper Leigh trembling with delight, guided his fin- 
gers in signing the formal name to close the needful 
orders. 

“Strangely sad,” the stately girl said, speaking as 
if in a dream. “My own mother’s calling away fol- 
lowed my father’s death soon after that hideous duel. 
This unholy war hastened your dear mother’s decline.” 

“And mine, still a lovely girl wife, was lost in this 
merciless river,” sadly said Henri. “Returning from 
a pleasure party at Le Bocage.” 

Bowing at Leigh’s murmured thanks, with a quiver- 
ing lip, the beauty of the magnolia land murmured: 
“Let me always help you. Henri will bring me to you. 
I know it is to you and Surgeon Armytage that we are 
bounden that our homes are not pillaged. And 
Henri !” 

“You must tell me your wishes,” softly answered 
Jasper Leigh. “It shall be as you wish. He is in my 
hands.” 

With softly shining eyes, the Southern girl poured 
out her gratitude, speaking in silent glances from the 
Murillo eyes, shaded now with the sorrows of the later 
Macaria. 

A week later Jasper Leigh was wheeled to the win- 
dows, where he could see the passing ships. 

“Stars and Stripes on sloop and shallop, floating 
down the Tennessee,” he murmured, when Madame 
Delmar and her young charges came to him. 

“I wish to read you a letter from Colonel Villeroi, 
Commander Leigh,” said the widow. 

Silently, with his eyes turned away, the officer 
listened to the proud Confederate’s letter of manly 
gratitude. Written after the horrible butchery of 
Corinth, it breathed all the gallantry of his ancient race. 

“That we are foes, is no fault of ours, Commander,” 
the stern soldier had written on the battle lines, while 
waiting for the fight. “That you have been a brother 
to my children, that you have spared my estates and 
have treated Henri, en vrai cavalier , makes me reach 
put an old rebel’s hapd to you in blessing across the 


SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 


49 


hostile lines. When this cruel war is over, may God 
grant that you and I may meet at La Belle Etoile. It 
may be that only the blackened rafters may greet me, 
perhaps I may fill a soldier’s grave, but to you, I can 
say: ‘ Bonne chance , Camarade * God be with you, 
and — now, a soldier’s last appeal : Aid Henri’s speedy 
exchange that he may go on foreign service as I have 
planned. And for my beloved niece, I know that your 
chivalry will aid her to Mobile under the cartel of ex- 
change.” 

Commander Leigh’s eyes were clouded. “I will 
think it over and compose an answer. There are many 
things to be thought of. The future of the two splen- 
did estates,” he slowly said. “I am forced into a dilem- 
ma,” sadly mourned Madam Elise, her glance resting 
full on the penetrating eyes of Leigh. “It is clearly 
my duty to escort Felicie to Mobile, and yet Surgeon 
Armytage thinks that I should remain here, and so, 
by holding possession, try to save Le Bocage, and this 
dear old plantation.” 

“Armytage is a man of profound intellect,” began 
Leigh, gazing at the embarrassed lady, but he broke 
off as Henri and Felicie ran from the room laughing 
in a burst of irresistible merriment. 

“Never mind,”* soothingly said Leigh, “You shall 
do just as you wish. Confer with the director, who has 
your interests at heart, and I will handle both these 
young madcaps.” 

To the astonishment of Leigh, the lady buried her 
face in her hands. “This war is a frightful thing,” 
she sobbed. 

And yet, an hour later, Commander Leigh gazed 
with a certain satisfaction at the Medical Director and 
the lady seated below him in the summer house, where 
often love trysts had been held in the glorious old 
ante-bellum days. 

It was Henri Villeroi who broke in upon Leigh to 
consult him as to the future prospects of his own ex- 
change. 

The gallant chivalrous lad had easily captured Jas- 
per Leigh’s heart. From the deftly handled corre- 
spondence, the reference to foreign service, Leigh 


50 SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 

could easily guess the ardent young dreams of the 
fiery young officer. 

“I’m shamefully well now. My shoulder will soon 
be all right. Feiicie bids me trust myself frankly to 
your honor/’ said Henri. 

A dream of wild delight thrilled across the Com- 
mander’s eyes. “But we must consult as to these help- 
less women.” 

“Let us take this whole thing up to-morrow, my dear 
boy,” kindly replied Leigh. “You and I, alone. Do me 
the favor to gain Miss Villeroi’s views quietly, her 
fullest wishes. As for the Surgeon and Madame 
Elise,” he added drily, “I fancy they are of one mind.” 

The sound of a melodious guitar and the notes of 
“Lorena” floating sweetly up from the garden, caused 
the wounded young Confederate to remark with an 
assumed gravity, “I really think it would be a crime 
to separate these two people, who seem to be as you 
say, somewhat of one mind.” 

Whereat Leigh officially bade Henri tell him of the 
later days of the broken up Naval Academy, then 
transplanted to Newport, pending the long hostilities. 

“You can easily see,” laughed Leigh, “that when 
you and I and Miss Feiicie have decided on a plan, 
Madame Elise can at once bring the Surgeon around.” 

“Rather!” cried Henri, forgetting for a time all 
the grim wrinkled humors of war. 

Surgeon Robert Armytage had taken instant pos- 
session of the sealed packet, whose contents were as 
yet a mystery of Jasper Leigh. 

“The fearful nervous shock of your five hours’ 
night battle, the depletion of your vitality due to this 
slashing wound,” said the doctor, “make it imperative 
that you should have rest. Your mother’s executors 
speak of the journal. Trust nothing yet to the un- 
certain mails. In a month you can take up all your 
own private affairs. Why worry? They report the 
estate and funds to be in great shape. We will have 
the river regularly opened soon.” 

It all seemed so strange, that three weeks had 
brought almost a semblance of peace to the lower 
reaches to the great river. A strong blockading squad- 


SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 5 1 

ron at the mouth of the Passes, Butler’s vigorous com- 
mand at New Orleans, the establishment of a navy 
yard at Algiers, and regular steamer and transport 
service, all these things veiled the immediate horror? 
of the war, which had rolled far away. 

And yet as June drifted along to July, the western 
Union successes were set off by the crushing disaster 
to McClellan’s grand army. 

A wave of wild enthusiasm had rollel over the North 
when Farragut leaped as a crowned Viking into the 
Walhalla of eternal fame. But all this — even Shiloh’s 
drawn battle and Corinth’s great victory were for- 
gotten, like all Western successes, in the confessed 
failure of the Grand Army of the Potomac to reach 
Richmond. 

Only the eternal laurels of Malvern Hill covered the 
grave of the fresh hopes which had failed ! 

The rapid convalescence of Jasper Leigh soon re- 
stored him to a nominal command. Josselyn, eager 
for laurels, departed, joining Farragut in the mighty 
dash up beyond the frowning guns of Vicksburg. 

And now a haunting expectancy shone in Felicie 
Villeroi’s eyes. Her cousin Henri, the recipient of 
some strange secret tidings, chafed to be away, and 
Madame Delmar was deeply concerned with the im- 
mediate measures to secure the safety of Le Bocage, 
and the dreamy old plantation of La Belle Etoile. 

Surgeon Armytage, led by the Creole widow’s vel- 
vet eyes, had stolen away to New Orleans for a two 
weeks’ abscence upon urgent public business. 

Chief of the splendid staff of surgeons, a brotherly 
guardian of the sick men of the two great forts, the 
friends of all sub-commanders, and a power with the 
heads of the army and navy, at New Orleans, what 
wonder that the confidential plan of Elise Delmar and 
her unconscious captive succeeded. 

Madame Marie Izard, a happily discovered aunt 
of the young heiress, was named by the astute General 
Butler to represent the harmless girl in her own rich 
heritage. 

A guard of a picked company, the establishment of 


52 SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 

an Army hospital on the grounds of Le Bocage, eight 
miles above Fort Jackson, saved that superb estate. 

For already the spoilers were following on after the 
victorious Farragut, and General Butler’s underlings 
turned greedy eyes towards the fleshpots of the prince- 
ly lower coast. 

On Armytage’s return, he confided part of the truth 
to Commander Leigh, and all of it to the gracious 
widow. “The sad death of the proud old Judge Pierre 
Villeroi deprives the helpless girl of her only surviv- 
ing trustee. The fiery old Creole was stricken with 
heart disease when he saw the levee in flames, the 
proud flag hauled down, and knew that the Manassas, 
the Confederate iron-clads Mississippi and Louisiana, 
and the great Anglo-Norman were all at the bottom 
of the river. I have had an official decree issued that 
Madame Izard shall hold Le Bocage safely for this 
innocent minor heir, this lovely girl. And so I stop- 
ped off there and placed that lady in formal posses- 
sion. 

“But,” gloomily said Jasper Leigh, “this place is also 
in jeopardy. It belongs either to Colonel Aristide Vil- 
leroi, a militant insurgent, or else to his only son, this 
gallant boy, whose heart is with the old flag, while 
his fantastic honor, calls him to die with the Stars and 
Bars. How can we save it? The pompous volunteer 
officers who fired no shot in reducing New Orleans, 
are now swarming all over the rich abandoned planta- 
tions.” 

“Only one way that I can see,” sadly rejoined Army- 
tage. “We must get Henri at once away from here to 
Mobile. The law courts are shut. Inter arma, silent 
leges. The negroes are both discreet and faithful. I 
may be kept here for some time, say two years. But 
Felicie and Madame Delmar will of course wish to go 
to Mobile with Henri when he can be exchanged. We 
are laden down here with prisoners. Ship Island is 
overcrowded with suspects, disloyal civilians, and the 
stern Butler will soon make a general delivery on a 
cartel.” 

“We must have a friendly councih” sighed Jasper 


SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 53 

Leigh, who was now able to be aided to the great 
library, and free to explore all the treasures of La 
Belle Etoile. 

And yet both the Surgeon and the Commander 
strangely delayed the parting hour. Even Henri Vil- 
leroi waited for some private news, that mysterious in- 
telligence which percolated through our loose lines 
from the first to the last days of the haphazard war. 

But Surgeon Armytage, now in close communion 
with Elise Delmar, labored secretly to evolve a 
nominal lease of La Belle Etoile, signed by Felicie 
Villeroi and approved by her Guardian ad litem 
Madame Delmar, a contract with Uncle Sam, which 
at a nominal rate, gave up the vast plantation for camp 
and hospital purposes, thus insuring the safety of the 
great heritage. 

The friendly foes managed to secretly communi- 
cate with Aristide Villeroi, now made a Major Gen- 
eral C.S.A., after his desperate valor at Corinth. 

Deeds, leases and documents, de bene esse, were 
safely smuggled through the lines, Madame Elise Del- 
mar reluctantly registering herself as a loyal citizen, 
and so, the pious fraud was duly carried on to a 
successful issue. 

In the library, around the family table, in the blos- 
soming gardens, Jasper Leigh was now attended al- 
ways by either Henri Villeroi or the shy but stately 
Felicie. 

His duties as commander of the station were nomi- 
nal, being merely a little report signing, and the exer- 
cise of a distant judgment over a clock-work system 
of river patrol. 

Henri, devoted, affectionate and enthusiastic, grew 
daily almost a blind confidant of the Union naval 
officer, while Felicie’s thrilling voice, her matchless 
skill with her Erard piano and harp, led away her 
silent admirer out upon a misty sea of romance. Their 
two noble souls were drifting slowly, tenderly into an 
unacknowledged accord. 

Leigh scorned to thrust himself upon the helpless 
girl, whom Fortune had cast a prisoner into his hands. 

Though the household was re-established, and a 


54 SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 

dozen women of family sought shelter in this friendly 
oasis, still Felicie Villeroi was “held by the enemy,” 
her cousin, a wounded prisoner of war, paroled, and, 
as yet, a mere pawn of fate. 

The dignity of the Southern girl’s sorrow touched 
Leigh’s heart, and so leaving her graceful guardian 
to bend the facile Armytage to her will, Felicie walked 
the gardens of La Belle Etoile, a lovely young Zeno- 
bia. 

While Henri, eager and comrade like, unfolded to 
Leigh all the romantic history of the proud Villerois, 
who for nearly two hundred years had ruled in state, 
bringing the splendors of the Court of Louis XIV. to 
temper the patrician blood mingling with their own, 
in the romantic annals of old Orleans and provincial 
Louisiana. 

In the evening coterie of five, Leigh and Armytage 
had their own secrets, while Madame Delmar, Henri 
and Felicie guarded some future hidden plan, in which, 
strangely, the futures of all were intertwined. 

To Leigh, reluctant to let Henri depart, for sake 
of the beautiful captive who would go away with him, 
the legends of smuggler and slaver, the stories of the 
Barrataria pirates, the tales of the old noblesse, and the 
golden days of Spain and France, were a never fail- 
ing enchantment. 

It was really the fair widow and Armytage, now 
her devoted slave, who delayed the parting hour. 

One official request of Leigh to forward Master 
Villeroi, C. S. Navy, to Mobile, would bring the per- 
mission for the whole family to depart. 

Madame Delmar had decided to return to La Belle 
Etoile, and with several now homeless planters’ wives, 
friends of olden days, and safely hold the plantation 
in a tacit allegience to the Union cause. 

It was now glowing in its summer luxury, and the 
mocking birds’ song, the breath of the magnolia, were 
charms of the terrestrial Paradise. 

Leigh at last approached with tender misgivings the 
sealed packet of his dead mother’s letters. 

Familiar now with the Commander’s life story, Sur- 
geon Armytage reluctantly delivered the fateful docu- 


SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 


55 


ments to his convalescent patient. “I do not like these 
old family mysteries,” mused the amiable Surgeon as 
he slowly went away. “The seals of the past usually 
are broken in sorrow, for good news, even prosperity, 
is always its own harbinger.” 

It was by a deft artifice that Armytage sent Madame 
Delmar to gracefully hover within hailing distance. 
“Leigh cannot stand as yet, any violent emotional 
shock. Confound all mysteries, say I,” the Surgeon 
grumbled. 

And so, from a distance, the fond widow noted Jas- 
per Leigh’s air of profound sadness, the eagerness with 
which he opened the papers and the start of astonish- 
ment with which he dropped the first unfolded letter. 

When the pale young officer reopened his eyes, Elise 
Delmar was at his side, forcing upon him a generous 
draught of old Madeira. “You are not strong enough 
yet,” she fondly whispered, as her tender hand 
smoothed the matted curls upon his clammy brow. 
“Give over this exciting work, or I shall call the Sur- 
geon. Be ruled by me.” 

It was Leigh’s turn to be astonished when Elise 
Delmar with a trembling hand, picked up the portrait 
which had fallen from the packet. “Who — who is 
this ?” she said, her cheeks paling in some overmaster- 
ing emotion. 

“The one dear dead woman who loved me, the only 
soul on earth left to me to love, my mother, Agnes 
Stanwood Leigh, of Albany,” said Leigh. “I never 
knew my father. I have never seen his face. He 
died in a far-away land still in the pride of his youth. 
Is it not a sweet face, my gentle mother?” 

“Agnes Stanwood,” muttered Madame Delmar. 
spellbound. “It is a lovely countenance, and yet I 
can trace the mother in your eyes. Yes, you are her 
son, her very own. But Jasper,” cried the gently 
woman, “You must give this reading over. Let me 
bring Surgeon Armytage. You are still faint.” And 
then with a gentle insistence, the widow glided silently 
awav. 

“Decidedly, no more of this at present, said the 
alarmed Surgeon. “You must be ruled by me. Your 


5 6 SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 

life belongs to our country now. For there are riper 
honors yet awaiting you, my boy.” 

And then, with a silent interest, Madame Delmar 
saw the Commander re-seal the papers. 

“It shall be as you say. I must go North upon a sick 
leave by and by. My presence at Elmira is absolutely 
necessary.” 

While Armytage gladly locked up the papers, Elise 
Delmar fled away to her own room. Once there, she 
quickly locked the door. “Agnes Stanwood’s son! 
Here in this house ” she cried, as the tears rained down 
her cheeks. “Let me think. I must be wise and 
silent. Yes, yes, we must go. Away from here ! For 
he must never know. Only God can rule the future 
of those whom I love. And — whom can I trust ?” 

She cast her eyes down in a sudden fear of womanly 
self-betrayal. 

“Only Robert Armytage, only this noble man who 
has saved La Belle Etoile from the spoiler. He did 
all this for me. I cannot deny it. But even to him 
I dare not speak.” 

There was a knock at her door, and, when with 
trembling fingers she shot back the bolt, Henri Villeroi 
glided into the room. His face showed an undue 
excitement. 

“Tell me — tell me all!” the widow gasped. 

“No one but you must know,” cried the eager boy. 
“We must leave here at once. You can easily mould 
both these kindly foes to your wishes. Listen! I 
have obtained a secret letter from Mobile — orders from 
my superiors. From our own people!” 

He was glowing now in all the excitement of his 
martial ardor. “Bullock is hastening the completion 
of the “290” at the Laird’s in Birkenhead. She will 
be the Queen of the Sea, our own peerless “290” and 
bear our naval flag over the whole world. She will be 
soon run down to the Azores. Raphael Semmes will 
command her. Two steamers with coal and her arma- 
ment and crew will follow. She will head boldly for 
American waters. She will even come into the Gulf. 
And Captain Semmes wishes me to serve under him 
for my knowledge of the whole Gulf, and of the pres- 


SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 


57 


ent state of the Yankee fleet. You and I and Felicie 
must get quietly away at once. For, Aunt Elise, if 
Commander Leigh even suspected this, it would be a 
breach of parole. I must be set free or die. Tell me 
that you will help. But, for God’s sake, tell Felicie 
nothing. She might innocently betray it to Leigh, 
thinking to save me from future risks, and — Armytage 
— he will do what you wish — noble old soul. Only re- 
member it is my honor — my country’s honor, now. 
Remember the noble blood shed for Southern Rights. 
General Lee has swept McClellan away like chaff. A 
glorious dashing campaign on the sea — a few more 
land victories, then we will have an instant recognition 
ahead by both France and England. An armistice must 
result or an honorable peace.” 

“It is the finger of God, my poor boy,” she cried, 
drawing him to her heart in a transport of love and 
pride. “Leave it all to me. Only you and I must 
know. Let me work upon dear Felicie’s feelings. She 
is a strange girl, and even if silent, Commander Leigh 
is a dangerous enemy, though noble, true and chival- 
ric.” 

“The star of honor,” gratefully cried Henri. “He 
has treated me as a brother of the heart, and, be 
assured, Armytage will hold La Belle Etoile safe if 
only for your sake. But the Commander must not 
know my secret. It might betray the South. Oh God, 
to get a dozen ships on the sea like the ‘290,’ we of the 
Navy, then, might turn the scale ! 

One week later, a saddened hush had fallen over 
the little circle in the old manor house. Seated apart, 
Surgeon Robert Armytage in low tones, discussed all 
the details of the impending departure of the family 
with Elise Delmar. 

In the drawing-room with a moody face, a hand- 
some young Saul, Leigh listened to Felicie Villeroi’s 
thrilling voice, while Henri, now alert and active, “fit 
for duty” superintended the packing of the slender 
outfit of the voyagers. 

The official formalities had all been calmly arranged 
by Commander Leigh. 

Under an escort of a detachment of convalescents, 


58 SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 

the party under Leigh’s command were to travel 
overland to Bird Island Bay. There, a Union gun- 
boat from Ship Island was to convey the two hundred 
convalescent Confederates, wounded in the river fight, 
over to Mississippi City, under a formal flag of truce. 

And already, Henri Villeroi had received his ex- 
change papers in return for the release of a Junior 
Lieutenant of Regular Artillery captured at Shiloh. 

In vain, Commander Leigh strove, on the last even- 
ing, to gain the company of Felicie Villeroi for a fare- 
well hour. Restlessly hovering near Henri, or cling- 
ing to Madame Delmar, Leigh could read nothing 
but sadness in her eyes when she placed her two hands 
in his own. 

“It is for to-morrow,” she said in a choked voice. 

Before he could answer, she had flitted away, a 
delightful vision of the night. 

Sleepless and baffled, the young Commander rose 
for the long day’s journey to the coast, and yet with 
the delicacy of their sailor hearts, Leigh and Armytage 
left the two cousins together for their silent adieu to 
La Belle Etoile. 

Proud, pale and clad in complete black, Felicie Vil- 
leroi, at last, without a backward glance, entered the 
waiting carriage which dashed away to join the now 
distant escort. 

Surgeon Armytage and Commander Leigh followed 
silently, with moody hearts. Leigh jealously guarded 
from his senior the struggle in his heart between love 
and pride. 

On the evening of the second day, Commander 
Leigh left Madame Delmar in the cabin of the Penob- 
scot after a two hour’s final conference. 

The gunboat was straining at her hawsers, under 
full steam, before the young officer had finished tell- 
ing Madame Delmar all that he fain would have 
Felicie know, if even at second hand. The tender 
details of the mother’s widowed life, all the pages 
of his simple history were now known to Madame 
Elise. 

“And so you have never seen your father’s grave, 
my poor friend?” demanded the sweet faced Creole. 


SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 59 

“All of love — all of life, seems denied to me,” 
sighed Jasper Leigh. 

“Wait,” cried the beautiful widow, suddenly kiss- 
ing him with an impulsive warmth, “when this cruel 
war is over — love may lead you back to La Belle 
Etoile. Go to her ! Say ‘Good-bye’ now !’ ” 

On the quarterdeck of the Penobscot, the stately 
Southern heiress had refuged near the now exhultant 
Henri. Too well Jasper Leigh knew the veiled neu- 
trality of this semi-publicity. But there was half an 
hour, as the heavy gunboat slowly got under way, 
while the convoy of exchanged prisoners was being 
duly mustered. 

Pale as an autumn evening, the lady of La Belle 
Etoile listened in silence to Jasper Leigh’s deep toned 
murmurs. 

“I ask you nothing, Miss Villeroi,” he said with an 
anguish which betrayed itself, “nothing but to wear 
this ring, which was once my mother’s. I may not 
live. We may never meet again, but I do ask you 
to remember that Henri shall always be my brother, 
even should the fortunes of this cruel war throw us 
together again. Even these warring flags,” he bitterly 
said, “cannot make us enemies at heart.” 

Slowly, the dark beauty raised her beseeching eyes 
to his saddened gaze. “Do not think that I do not 
know the noble brotherhood of all your untiring 
efforts to aid and shield us. To save our poor heri- 
tage in these awful hours. We are one in heart, Aunt 
Elise, Henri and myself. And General Villeroi shall 
know to the full, all your gallant sacrifices, your ten- 
der thoughtfulness. You will be always in my heart.” 

Suddenly with a sob, she said: “I prayed for you, 
Jasper, on that awful night when the Cayuga led the 
fleet. I quickly learned of the safety of that gallant 
ship from our people. I could seem to see you on 
that flame-lit deck. And my heart followed you — 
even under an alien flag into battle. So, do not think 
me ungrateful, cold, hard-hearted. The God above 
in will guard and guide you, in battle and in storm. 
For Henri’s sake — for my sake,” she said with a sud- 
den blush. “To answer my prayer !” 


60 SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. T 

A 

He kissed her trembling hands and felt within his 
own — the little locket which later, showed to him her 
beloved face — and a tress of her silken hair. 

At the stair he turned. He saw the mute entreaty 
of her eyes. 

Springing back to her side, he heard the reluctant 
whisper, “I cannot lose you forever from my life, Jas- 
per ! We shall meet again.” 

And then he gasped under his breath : “My own 
poor darling, — mine — to eternity! We v/ill meet, — 
after these sorrows cease.” 

The handkerchief that fluttered from that receding 
deck faded out, at last, a faint speck, as Commander 
Leigh saw the Penobscot steam away with the white 
flag flying at her mizzen. He had forgotten all the 
burning gratitude of Henri Villeroi’s loving farewell 
for there sinking below the verge, was the ship which 
held for him, the one treasure of the wide world, 
the beautiful girl now sobbing on Elise Delmar’s bosom 
in the great cabin of the Penobscot's commander, cour- 
teously vacated for the exiles of La Belle Etoile. 

Like a caged panther, Henri Villeroi walked the 
quarterdeck of the Penobscot unarmed, but clad in 
his full Confederate uniform. 

“Two days more,” thought the young Hotspur, “will 
bring me to Mobile, then, the first blockade runner 
will land me at Havana. Ten days then, takes me on 
a neutral steamer, to Liverpool. Hurrah for Terceira 
and the '290’ !” 

In the long week of Surgeon Armytage’s absence 
on the exchange boat, Commander Leigh read the 
letters which partly conveyed the story of a mother’s 
saddened life. 

Ten years were seemingly added to his life, when 
Armytage returned. The packet of letters given by 
the happy Medical Director was quickly hidden in 
Jasper Leigh’s breast, as he said with stern emphasis: 
“You must get me three months’ sick leave to go 
North, or, I shall go mad.” 

The story of his mother was beginning to weigh 
him down. “My father still lives," he groaned. “I 
must read that journal. Who am I? There may be 


SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 


6l 


some bar between Felicie and myself — perhaps a bar 
sinister. I will shoot myself if that shame falls on 
me!" 


CHAPTER IV. 

THE SECRET OF THE BANK VAULT. 

Surgeon Armytage was astounded at the sudden 
change in Commander Leigh's demeanor. Happy at 
heart himself, full of plans for the future welfare 
of both Felicie and Henri, he had gone to the limit 
of all the license of a flag of truce in the courtesies 
exchanged at Mobile with his professional brethren 
of the Confederate Service. 

There was no apparent cause for Jasper Leigh’s deep 
dejection and the official affairs of the station were 
all in excellent condition. Not a ruffle of any coming 
storm was in sight, and the sad-eyed colony of 
Southern “war widows" were now gracefully adminis- 
tering the household affairs of La Belle Etoile. 

“Confound the boy !" grumbled the middle-aged 
lover. “He has not even opened the bundle of letters 
from Mobile. There is surely one there from ‘Miss 
Moonlight’ as well as that game boy Henri, and I 
know there is one from my Elise. Can he have already 
rashly proposed to Felicie and been rejected? Ah, 
haste is surely of the devil !" sighed the Surgeon, for- 
getting his own rapid war-time wooing. 

“Only a lover’s tiff, I suppose!" at last decided 
Armytage. “Thank God, they are both free and young 
and have all their life before them. As for Elise and 
myself, we have no time to lose. And yet, I need 
this young fellow’s aid. I will bustle him away North. 
He is both proud and shy, but when Elise returns, 
she shall be the fairy god mother to them both.’’ 

With an innocent duplicity, the lovesick Surgeon 
had arranged for a regular correspondence with the 
three absentees, under the easy pretence of “matters 
connected with the wounded" and the necessary “cour- 
tesies of war.’’ 


6 2 SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 

Before taking up his much-delayed professional 
duties, Surgeon Armvtage hastened off Commander 
Leigh’s application for three months’ sick leave of 
absence, backed with a professional certificate of “cast 
iron rigidity.” 

“That will surely bring it,” mused the Surgeon. “He 
is simply moping here in the old manor wherein every 
rustling curtain now speaks to him of the absent mag- 
nolia beauty. Alas, they must wait for the end of this 
wretched war. There is a new danger, too. Under 
Madame Levert’s care at Mobile, Felicie will be ex- 
posed to the fascinations of all the gallant chivalry 
of the Gulf States. And, a woman, she may soon 
forget. It is madness to dream of her refusing in 
the North, she would be coldly ostracized for her 
natural life, despised and disowned. And, till Farra- 
gut breaks the seals of Hell at Mobile, Jasper Leigh 
can not hope to again meet the woman whom he 
adores. Ah, Paris ; yes Paris !” cried the delighted 
Surgeon. “If I can only influence Elise Delmar to 
send Felicie out of the country by the Bahamas over 
to Paris. There are the Slidells, her distant connec- 
tions — General Villeroi has also collateral relatives 
in France. He has friends there and all his old social 
connections. Elise must win over Madame Levert 
to this safe plan. This will remove Felicie at once 
from the circle of Maury’s brilliant staff and Frank- 
lin Buchanan’s dashing young sailor heroes. After 
my own marriage, Elise can easily aid me in opening a 
correspondence, and then, with a three months’ leave, 
Jasper Leigh could run over to Paris and have a 
fair field out of the range of Confederate guns. Ad- 
mirable; most admirable!’/ 

The genial Surgeon little knew of the sad pride 
which held the young lovers tenderly apart. In the 
glow of his own autumnal romance, he could not meas- 
ure the agony which filled Felicie Villeroi’s stormy 
heart. She alone knew of the implacable hatred of 
General Aristide Villeroi for the North and all its 
belongings. 

An uncle, her real guardian, a leading Confederate 
general — the inopportune death of the broken spirited 


SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 63 

Judge Pierre Villeroi, with her only cousin Henri, 
a dashing rebel naval officer, the gentle ex-captive 
knew the aparent hopelessness of Jasper Leigh’s suit. 

While Jasper Leigh secretly writhed under the 
shadow of a possible shame, now doubtful of even 
his own legitimate birth, in far-away Mobile, — Felicie 
Villeroi gazed at the defiant “Stars and Bars” stream- 
ing out boldly on Forts Gaines and Morgan. 

“Not till that flag is furled forever, or has won its 
way to victory over myriads of corpses, can I hope 
to meet my dearest foe,” she murmured. “And,” she 
shuddered, “two graves must yawn before I could 
stand by his side at the altar. General Villeroi and 
Henri ! They would curse me if I mated with one 
whose blue and gold uniform is the sign of the doom 
of a South now given over to fire and sword. Love 
him, to love him forever, that is woman’s lot, — the 
hidden flame on the secret altar of my heart. To 
marry, to hope to be his wife, — there is a shrouded 
spectre which says to me : ‘Forbear !’ ” 

And so, divided by the battle lines, these two young 
hearts thrilled with the exquisite pain of love, while 
Elise Delmar and Robert Armytage toiled to build 
up battlements of loving deceit around the great plan- 
tations on either side of the muddy Mississippi. 

In vain, Armytage sought to break down Jasper 
Leigh’s icy reserve, while waiting for the return of 
the swift tug which had borne the application for 
leave to the acting Flag Officer at New Orleans, the 
nearest authority which could grant to the wounded 
Commander a leave to go North. 

There were dark rings under Leigh’s eyes and the 
Surgeon could hear the Commander’s tiger like tramp- 
ing at night in his room, long after all the other inmates 
of La Belle Etoile were safely slumbering under 
the aegis of the starrv flag. 

“The child of misfortune, perhaps baseborn — even 
nameless, — my God, the bar sinister!” groaned Leigh 
as he pored over the half disclosures of his dead 
mother’s last letters. 

A fierce desire to know the worst, the very worst, 
now burned in his throbbing veins. He had jumped 


64 SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 

at the worst conclusions. He read all the secrets of 
his lonely boyhood, his long foreign cruises, his sweet 
mother’s avoidance of society, and the holding back 
of his unknown father’s existence. 

“Sorrow ploughed her tender heart,” he muttered 
“And, was there also a deeper wound, the burning 
brand of shame? Thank God! There is soon the 
enemy to meet ! A fortunate bullet may end my 
misery. But first, I must have certainty, then — the 
ultimate sacrifice. I can throw my life away like a 
man at the head of my sailors.” 

Four days after Surgeon Armytage’s return, the 
dispatch tug was seen rounding the bend above La 
Belle Etoile, and the bustling medical man at once 
hastened into Jasper Leigh’s room. 

“Rouse yourself, old man,” gaily cried Armytage. 
“I’ll at once send a couple of men in here to help your 
man pack. There’s the dispatch boat coming and your 
leave will be here all O. K. The Fleet Surgeon will 
deny me nothing.” 

Jasper Leigh turned weary eyes upon his old friend. 
“I do not know that I shall accept it now,” he sul- 
lenly said. “If I can get transferred to Commodore 
Porter’s fleet, I will apply for active duty. They are 
going to attack Arkansas Post. Confound a place 
where are no telegraphs. If I could only work a dis- 
patch through Commodore Porter, I would join him 
at once if he would give me command of a boat. I’d 
like to take the Mound City or, the Queen of the West 
into action.” 

“Are you mad?” demanded the open-eyed Surgeon, 
his quick eye noting the letters from Mobile lying 
still sealed on Leigh’s table. “You shall do no such 
foolish thing. Your lacerated shoulders are not half 
healed. And, you shall not be killed with raw red 
wounds still half open. Do you wish to throw your 
life away?” 

“I don’t half care,” muttered Leigh, as the Surgeon 
grasped both his hands. 

“Tell me, young man,” resolutely demanded Army- 
tage, “Have you abandoned our once cherished plan 


SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 65 

to save these plantations? Are you a mere weather 
cock? Has Felicie Villeroi refused you?” 

Jasper Leigh dropped into a chair. " His eyes flashed 
fire. “No !” he sternly replied. “I am not coldhearted 
enough to press my suit upon a girl whose estates, 
whose family even — were in my power through the 
cruel fortunes of war. No, God bless her, I would go 
around the world to meet her, but only on terms of 
equality. I hope to win a wife, if I ever marry, — not 
capture a bond slave. It’s all over, Armytage. There 
is something else. — and, — I can tell you nothing now, 
nothing !” 

The Surgeon moved softly away, grumbling: “Til 
see about this leave. By Jove, I’ll exert some authori- 
ty." 

He stole a last glance at Leigh, seated with his 
head buried in his hands, as a marine orderly, briskly 
bristled by him. “Flag ship flying signal ‘Command- 
ing Officer come on board,’ Sir !” said the messenger 
with a smart salute. 

And so, in ten minutes, both Leigh and Armytage 
climbed the companionway of the Portsmouth , at 
whose starboard quarter the New Orleans dispatch 
tug was now tied up. 

This smart sailing sloop of war, built in 1843, was 
the headquarters ship of the naval division below New 
Orleans, a gallant old boat destined with the Con- 
stellation, to be on the active list of the United States 
Navy even at the beginning of the twentieth century, 
green in the laurels of the Mexican War, and 
rechristened in glory throughout the long Civil War. 

Spick and span now, she lay gleaming in the sun- 
light of this June afternoon, the national ensign proud- 
ly floating at her mizzen truck. 

In the ward room, surrounded by his beloved boys, 
Robert Armytage pondered long over the metamor- 
phosis of the light-hearted Jasper Leigh. “I have it,” 
he suddenly cried, slapping his knee and upsetting his 
glass of ‘Navy sherry’ in his excitement. “Those 

d d home letters. It’s some old family trouble, 

I’ll be bound. Oh, if Elise were only here. She could 
soon draw him out. I wish I had pitched the whole 


66 SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 

of this old stuff overboard. Let the dead past bury 
its dead. By Jove, he shall talk ! I’ll give him laugh- 
ing gas and then worm the truth out of him.” 

In the mean time, Commander Jasper Leigh, in 
full uniform, had disappeared in the stately solitude of 
the Commander’s cabin. And into that same cave of 
Adullam, Armytage had seen the smart young Ensign, 
directing the dispatch boat, also go into eclipse, but 
catching the passing boy’s wink — “Lots of orders for 
you, Surgeon ! Everything all right !” 

In fifteen minutes, Leigh emerged grave-faced, and 
as stoical as a Pawnee Indian. “I’ll wait for you here, 
Armytage,” he said, as a marine then summoned the 
Surgen to the awful presence of the “old man.” 

Five minutes later, Armytage came forth, his jolly 
face beaming with delight, “All right, my boy; your 
leave is granted, and the Acting Commodore says that 
you must go at once, so, there!” 

“Read that !” quietly said Leigh, as he handed his 
friend a dispatch marked “Navy Department.” 

The Surgeon’s face clouded with annoyance. 
“Beastly shame!” he grumbled. “You are not fit for 
duty. As a medical man I shall protest !” 

“You will do nothing of the kind, my dear old 
friend,” sternly said Leigh. “I shall take my duty 
just as it comes to me, and never flinch at any order. 
It matters little where I go, as long as I’m near the 
enemy. I have already reported my departure to the 
Acting Commodore. I take the Bienville to-morrow 
at noon. She slows up for me here, as she sails direct- 
ly for New York.” 

Armytage then read the order aloud : — 

“Navy Department, Washington, D. C., June it, 
1862. Special Orders No. 151. Commander Jasper 
Leigh, U. S. N., is hereby relieved from duty with the 
Gulf Squadron, and will proceed forthwith to New 
York City, reporting by telegraph on arrival to the 
Secretary of the Navy, for assignment to a particular 
duty. 

Official, Gideon Welles, 

Gustavus V. Fox, Secretary of the Navy. 

Assistant Secretary. 


SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 67 

“There's nothing to be done, then,” sighed the sad- 
dened Surgeon, as they stepped into the cutter, which 
swiftly darted over the swirling flood toward the 
shores of La Belle Etoile. 

But Jasper Leigh sat motionless, trailing his hand 
idly in the water, his eyes fixed upon the window where 
he had watched Felicie Villeroi’s fluttering signal as 
he went away to battle with her kinsmen. 

Armytage caught his low whisper — 

“And all that’s left of the bright, bright dream 
“With its thousand brilliant phases — ” 

He grasped the young officer’s hand mutely, when 
Leigh fiercely cried: “I wish to God that the rebel 
sharpshooter who crippled me, had not bungled his 
job ! I shall never see La Belle Etoile again.” 

The sturdy Jack Tars wondered at their beloved of- 
ficer’s despondent mood, while Robert Armytage mut- 
tered : “We’ll see about that, my boy. ‘There’s a 
sweet little cherub that sits up aloft.’ By Jove, if Elise 
were only here !” 

While Jasper Leigh busied himself in his rooms, 
Surgeon Armytage sent for the powder scarred Boat- 
swain Hannigan and Leigh’s servant “Monkey” Riley. 

“I’m going to send you up to New York with the 
Commander, Hannigan,” said the anxious Doctor, 
“and, of course, you must go, Riley. If anything hap- 
pens to him, I’ll have you both skinned alive. Go to 
him now and do not leave him alone for a minute 
He’s in a bad way, something wrong amidships.” 

The two men tugged a forelock each and grinned 
their pledge of loyal obedience. 

When the sun sank in the waters of the Gulf, Leigh’s 
preparations were all finished, his command being duly 
turned over to Lieutenant Somerset. 

By deft manipulation, the Surgeon dined alone with 
the departing officer, who had walked alone for a half 
hour in the gardens of La Belle Etoile in a silent leave 
taking. “I will not write to her till I have solved this 
riddle,” murmured the unhappy man, “and if my fears 
are justified, my silence, my death, will then be answer 
enough. Death pays all debts, and wipes out even the 


68 SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 

bar sinister. No one shall ever know! I owe it to 
her, to her memory, my unhappy mother, to carry her 
secret to my grave.” 

A battle was raging in his heart fiercer than the wild 
night struggle of the Mississippi, and sh? lows 
wrapped his soul. 

“It is all over,” he said at last. “Felicie cannut di- 
vide my sorrow — she shall not share my shame ! God 
bless her, forever and forever!” 

There was a strange peace on his face as he joined 
Armytage at their last meal. 

All in vain the Surgeon’s cheery arts ; a gloom set- 
tled upon the parting feast — 

“For, the room seemed filled with whispers 
“As they looked at the vacant seats.” 

The Surgeon could at last stand it no longer. His 
eyes were misty behind the smoke wreaths of his Ma- 
nila cheroot, as he said brokenly : “Leigh, I may never 
see you again ! You dare not leave those three letters 
unanswered. You know how young Villeroi loves you. 
Elise Delmar will soon be my wife. She has clung to 
you like a sister. And Felicie — dream of delight, 
heart’s darling, you will not leave that loving woman 
without a single word. She has a right to know, the 
highest right ! The sacred claim of an unspoken love, 
i do not force your confidence, but for God’s sake, send 
her across the lines a few words — if only to tell her 
that you are the man she takes you to be.” 

Jasper Leigh gazed long and steadily at his old 
friend. “You’re a good friend, Armytage,” he fal- 
tered. “I’ll do it, if only to show them that I’ll stand 
by them in their trouble. Some day you will know all. 
I cannot tell you now.” 

“There speaks Jasper Leigh,” cried Armytage. 
“Listen! We need you even more now than before. 
I’ve a private warning from New Orleans that two 
vulture quartermasters of volunteers already have a 
scheme to have Le Bocage and La Belle Etoile con- 
demned as forfeited and abandoned lands ; put up at 
mock auction; bidden in for them by the trading Jew 


SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 69 

cotton thieves, and so — turn out these defenceless chil- 
dren into the cold world, as paupers.” 

“My God!” cried Leigh, springing up. “Tell me 
only what to do. If I survive my ‘particular service/ 
I’ll come back here and throttle these thieves.” 

“Softly, softly,” said. Army tage. “Leave all to me. 
Once that Elise Delmar is my wife, we will be able to 
easily baffle them. Now, let. me prescribe for you a 
bottle of this old Chambertin, while I give you a few 
little commissions in New York City. You can not 
refuse me.” 

Half an hour later, Leigh’s bitter mood had changed 
under Armytage’s deft suggestions as to not abandon- 
ing the beloved pawns of fortune, whose heritage was 
threatened by the foul spoilers, the loathsome scum 
who crept along behind the firing lines. 

The Surgeon’s face crimsoned as Commander Leigh 
read over the little list of Surgeon Armytage’s com- 
missions. 

“Item. Two golden wedding rings, dates, initials, 
etc., as given. These from Tiffany, of course.” 

The shame-faced lover bowed in silence. 

“Item. Three carat diamond ring with engraved 
initials, E. A., the selection to be left to me. Tiffany, 
also, of course.” 

The would-be bridegroom softly sighed assent. 
“ Carte blanche as to price. Tiffany will attend to 
that,” Armytage groaned. 

“A full dress Surgeon’s uniform, satin lined, from 
Hatfield, as per enclosed directions — why you reckless 
old Rothschild!” laughed Jasper Leigh, borne away 
in spite of himself. 

“The fact is,” humbly said the Surgeon, “I have 
saved a good deal of money, Leigh, and I wish to do 
the correct thing. As for Madame Delmar, she with 
others, wisely put her own money and property in 
charge of the French Consul at New Orleans. There 
will be no wolf hovering around our door.” 

“I am only sorry that I cannot attend the wedding, 
Armytage,” laughed Jasper, lightly. 

“There will be but ‘maimed rites/ ” slowly said the 

Surgeon, “But, I must hasten Elise back here, as she 


70 SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 

is now a registered loyal citizen, to forestall these 
cormorants, and yet we will have a goodly party from 
New Orleans. I have arranged for Madame Delmar’s 
return through the great courtesy of General Maury, 
and we will be married here so as to give greater color 
to our title as representatives of the minor heirs. 
Thank God, our young fire brand Henri is going away 
on foreign service and so he cannot complicate matters. 
We will wait a month so as to give all the publicity 
possible to this loyal alliance.” 

“Before that time, sir,” cheerfully said Leigh, “you 
shall have all these articles so neatly described to- 
gether with this list of feminine requisites for which 
I see I am to apply to the representative of Madame 
Olympe in New York.” 

“Drop all badinage now, Leigh,” gravely said the 
Surgeon. “I know all the secrets of the Villerois now, 
for love has opened the heart of Elise to me, her foe- 
man and she has told me secrets I dare not speak ! 
Honor foubids, as I have learned that which I 
must not tell you. But I can tell you now that Felicie 
Villeroi will be sent quietly over to Paris,” Leigh gave 
a start of astonishment, “to preserve her from the 
dangers of war and possible yellow fever. It will re- 
move her also from all adverse influences, from the 
presence of friends, and the whirlwind excitement of 
the Mobile coterie.” 

Jasper Leigh’s eyes were quickly glowing with new- 
born hopes as Armytage solemnly added: “Let no 
shadows of the past, no doubts of the future, come 
between you. Across the stormy breakers of the pres- 
ent, I can see your future path, lit up with sunlight. 
Write to her here, under seal to me. Elise Armytage 
will send all your letters to Madame Levert and as 
soon as Felicie is settled in Paris, you shall have both 
the address and the entree of her circle, should you be 
able to go over to Europe. Trust to love and luck. 
Trust to me — trust to Elise. You shall have your fair 
running.” 

Jasper Leigh grasped the old Surgeon’s hands. 

“No! No, thanks!” cried Armytage. “Get away 
now and write your three letters, for,” he shame- 
facedly confessed, “I am sending a couple of negroes 


SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 


71 


over in an oyster sloop to Mississippi City, one of them 
Elise’s old page-boy, to take her my mandate to report 
here forthwith for marriage and further orders. I 
swear that the scoundrels shall not rob the Villeroi 
children, not while my old heart beats above ground.” 

The gray dawn of morning found the two comrades 
still together, and a new light now shone out upon 
Jasper Leigh’s face. “If- — if — ” he whispered in his 
own agitated heart, “if there is no stain of dishonor 
on my name, I will make my way to her side, across 
all the barriers of Fate, die, true to her to the last !” 

While they communed in the dark midnight hours, 
a gliding black hulk stole softly seaward out past the 
scattered vessels of the Mobile blockading fleet. Si- 
lently, without lights or bells, her furnaces muffled, her 
screw but slowly churning the oily waters, the Lady 
Davis crept along seaward, through an unused shallow 
channel. 

Eager eyes peered out through the murky darkness, 
where Henri Villeroi now stood on the bridge by the 
side of the anxious Captain of the smart blockade 
runner. Bales of cotton protected the engines and 
boilers — down in the fire room an anxious gang 
listened for the hoarse orders of the Chief Engineer. 
The hissing safety valves were all weighted down, and 
rows of men on deck stood ready to pass the word of 
command. 

Henri Villeroi felt his heart bound, beneath the 
bulky package of dispatches, all lead weighted ready 
to cast overboard. The last kisses of his loved ones 
were still on his lips as the swift greyhound crept out 
into the gathering murk of night. 

Below in the narrow cabin, a score of women 
crouched in fear, while two score of daring passengers 
were distributed on deck to aid the hardy sea smug- 
glers of this war time desperate commerce. 

“Three-quarters speed !” whispered the Captain, as 
Villeroi pointed to the last twinkling red lights of the 
outside line of gunboats. 

Suddenly a hoarse hail rang out over the water. 

“A picket boat !” cried Henri. “Full speed, for 
God’s sake!” 


72 SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 

There was the bang of a boat howitzer, the flare of 
a rocket, and then, the deep boom of a dozen guns. 

“Give her everything!” yelled the Captain, waving 
his cap in defiance, as the slender boat quivered under 
the rush of the full power of the mighty engines. 

“Everybody below!” cried Villeroi, as a spar clat- 
tered to the deck, while the firemen below piled in 
the rosin, and the turpentine-soaked fat pine wood. 

The night wind wailed, as the flying steamer dashed 
along, her wake churned into foam by the skipping 
shells. 

“Only two gunboats are under way !” laughed 
Henri Villeroi, as he drew a silken Confederate Flag 
from his bosom. “Ten knot boats, both — the Itasca 
and the Vandalia. I know them well.” 

“We are making sixteen knots, Lieutenant,” grimly 
sr.id the happy English blockade runner. “Go below, 
and turn in. At dawn they will be left hull down be- 
hind us.” 

While the sea cormorant skimmed along next day 
under the sunset skies, Commander Jasper Leigh stood 
on the deck of the Bienville, admiringly eyed by Boat- 
swain Hannigan and the devoted “Monkey” Riley. 

In the crowd of friendly faces, Leigh’s earnest gaze 
rested only on the features of the now heart happy 
Armytage. 

“Sailor’s luck!” cried the old Surgeon, as the part- 
ing moment came, and Leigh clasped the hand of his 
old comrade. 

The stately ship went away, down the majestic river, 
bearing the young lover onward to unknown fates, 
into new dangers, but his eyes were moist, as he gazed 
backward at La Belle Etoile. 

The bearer of important dispatches to the Com- 
mander of the Brooklyn Navy Yard, Leigh was alert 
about his duty as the Bienville sped up the East River 
to the muddy anchorage of Wallabout Bay. 

No great bridge then spanned the flowing tide, no 
huge sky reaching palaces of Mammon crowded the 
river reaches of Manhattan Island, but there were 
white tents and crowded camps on Long and Staten 
Islands — the Battery and Park were crowded with 


SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 73 

soldiers’ barracks, and the Navy Yard was a scene of 
frantic activity. 

Jumping into a cutter followed by Boatswain Han- 
nigan bearing the dispatch bags, leaving “Monkey” 
Riley to land all his slender campaign outfit, Com- 
mander Leigh in half an hour, stood before the stern 
old Commodore, who then ruled the feverish naval 
arsenal. 

“Here are your orders, Commander!” said the chief. 
“You can telegraph to Washington your arrival and 
their receipt. Remember that you must proceed forth- 
with.” 

Leigh tore open the telegram. His heart leaped up 
in a sudden excitement. 

“Proceed to your home and await instant orders 
there. Report arrival at Elmira by telegraph.” 

Leigh mechanically filled out his telegraphic re- 
sponse, and said, saluting : “I shall take the next train, 
Commodore.” 

“Good !” growled the old sea dog. “I wish that all 
our officers were like you. You will find some serious 
matters awaiting you.” 

It was only after bestowing Hannigan and his ser- 
vant Riley in temporary quarters, that Jasper Leigh 
recalled, when in the train, the singular new orders 
which seemed to carry him away from all spheres of 
duty. 

A sudden suspicion crossed his mind. “Has my 
kindly commerce with the enemy, with General Vil- 
leroi, with our three romantic captives been discov- 
ered?” 

He vainly sought an answer until, at three o’clock 
in the morning, he descended from the train at Elmira. 

His telegram to the lawyers had warned them of his 
impending arrival. 

“A cold welcome !” the officer muttered, as he stood 
alone in the Erie Station. “My own home is closed, 
I am a stranger in my own dwelling place. I am help- 
less. I will seek an hotel. I must wait for the lawyers 
even to gain access to the darkened home of my boy- 
hood.” 

As he hesjtated, a graye-faced young man ap- 


74 SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 

proached. “I regret to inform you, Commander 
Leigh,” said the stranger, “of the sudden death of our 
Mr. Jarvis. It occurred but a few days ago. And 
our Mr. Sidney Houghton is in Europe on financial 
business connected with the government loans. Allow 
me to conduct you to the rooms engaged at our best 
hotel, and to-morrow morning, I will wait upon you, 
and give over to you the control of your family house. 
Our manager, Mr. Miller, will endeavor to place you 
in possession of all matters connected with your 
estate.” 

“Mr. Houghton will soon return?” anxiously de- 
manded Leigh. 

“His stay is indefinite,” said the clerk. “We are 
now seeking to borrow money in every toreign market 
to hold up the credit of the Government. Our firm 
directs the legal affairs of our associated banks here.” 

Stunned by this sudden happening, Jasper Leigh 
tossed upon his pillow restlessly until daybreak. 

When he had risen and made an early pilgrimage to 
the almost forgotten homestead, he saw clearly the 
impossibility of receiving any confidential advice. 
“One executor dead — the other absent roving in 
Europe, I will surely be held in the dark, unless I can 
reach my sealed papers here,” thought the puzzled of- 
ficer. “Fate juggles with me!” 

Three hours later, he had grown familiar with the 
beautiful city on the Chemung, and he held in his 
hands a pacquet of accounts, a statement of his avail- 
able funds, and a sealed package, gravely described 
by Counselor Miller, “as a deposit of the greatest im- 
portance.” 

“You will find all your estate business in perfect 
order, Commander,” said the managing attorney, “but 
I regret to say the most valuable deposit left for you 
by Mrs. Leigh was transferred to the vaults of the 
Sub-Treasury at New York, for greater safety. And 
until the return of Mr. Houghton, its delivery is im- 
possible, as it was deposited in the joint names of the 
executors. There must be an order of court for one 
signature, and Mr. Houghton’s presence also for the 
delivery to you. Mr. Clark, our head clerk, will attend 


SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 


75 


you in all things, and I am at your service to the fullest 
extent.” 

An hour later, Jasper Leigh had turned away with 
a sigh from the grave of his mother, a mound now 
covered with the fragrant flowers of the battle summer. 

“Sleep on, beloved one,” he murmured, “I will not 
break your rest. The secrets of your gentle heart are 
sacred to your son !” 

Down through the bustling city, with its railways, 
canals and factories, on past the happy homes, the col- 
leges and houses of God, past the gloomy prison of the 
human debris of the State, through the leafy park, on, 
past vast barracks of blue-clad volunteers, and the for- 
bidding stockade now swarming with Confederate 
prisoners, the lonely naval officer was reconducted to 
the memory haunted home. 

“I do not know a human being in this city,” mused 
Leigh. “How strangely lonely.” 

A black-robed widow, the caretaker of his home, 
timidly welcomed him, as he entered the mansion, 
where every dimly remembered object spoke to him 
of loved and lost. 

The lawyer’s clerk soon left the returning heir to 
his sad reveries, while Jasper Leigh gently repulsed 
the widow’s offers of some social entertainment. 

“Let me be alone here,” he gravely replied, “for a 
while. I have but a few days at the best, and I must 
make the most of this brief respite.” 

Left alone, with his mother’s picture smiling down 
upon him, in the unforgetting tenderness of woman- 
hood, the young officer tossed aside the accounts and 
financial exhibits. 

“Her journal!” he reverently said, as he opened 
the bulky package. “It holds the message of the dead.” 

And then he bowed his head and wept as he de- 
tached a sealed envelope affixed within the cover. 
“This is her last message of love,” he sadly sighed, as 
he noted the date and then broke the seal with tremb- 
ling fingers. 

“It was on my way home from China, when this 
was written,” he mused, and then he was transfixed 
with astonishment, as he read the solemn admonitions 


76 SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 

of the mother, whose wrongs now wrankled in his 
breast. 

The words were few, but they opened to him a vista 
of harassing doubt. 

“My Beloved Son Jasper: When you read this 
journal, you must not blame your unknown father for 
a seeming abandonment of his eldest son. 

In my pride and womanly resentment, stung by his 
harshness, I led him to believe that both you and my- 
self had perished in a terrible steamboat accident on 
the Hudson. And so, he knows not of your existence, 
for you do not bear his name. You only bear my dead 
mother’s name. 

When you know all, you will learn to judge him 
rightly, and, you will see how he acted innocently on 
my imprudent subterfuge. 

I could not bear to tell you all this until you had ar- 
rived at man’s estate. 

In the sealed package, now in the U. S. Sub-Treas- 
ury, you will receive the final disclosure. My coun- 
selors would not have these vital papers exposed to 
the least danger of theft or fire. 

And when you read all the story of our sundered 
lives, in this sad journal, you will see that I have long 
guarded the secret of my life for you alone, for neither 
name, nor place, nor date will betray the facts which 
are your birthright to any one but yourself. The key 
to all is in the Treasury. 

That your father is an honorable and high-minded 
man, that your birth and rank are worthy of your high 
calling, redeems the fact that our wedded life was 
wrecked by the dark curse of human slavery which 
hangs over the South to-day, and threatens to finally 
engulf our beloved country. 

I leave you a substantial fortune, and I beg you not 
to reject a father’s love should you ever meet him. 
Promise me that you will not attempt to communicate 
with him for six months after you have read the whole 
life story of 

Your loving and unhappy mother, 

Agnes Stanwood Leigh,” 


SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 77 

Jasper Leigh’s head dropped upon his breast, and 
he sat long in a gloomy reverie, till he noted a little 
slip of paper which had fluttered from the envelope. 
It was traced in a faltering hand, and dated three 
weeks later than the letter. 

“Dear heart,” fondly sighed Leigh, as he kissed the 
last words written by the woman who gave him birth. 

“Jasper : Promise me now, that you will love your 
father for my sake, and learn to honor and respect him 
for your own. He once knew my heart, he knows it 
now. We were both young and headstrong when we 
parted in pride, and I see now where my feet turned 
away but too rashly. 

And I charge you, if you ever meet him, to let him 
read my last journal, and then he will tell you all. 
God has forgiven him. The Heavenly Father has for- 
given me, for I have peace of mind, a Christian's hope. 
The lawyers know nothing of our family secrets. No 
one knows but yourself.” 

Neither the grave lawyer nor his watchful clerk 
dared break in upon the stony trance which wrapped 
Jasper Leigh in the three days of his solitude at El- 
mira. And both were vastly relieved at heart when 
Commander Leigh, entering the office of the great firm, 
said calmly: “I will continue all the arrangements 
made by the late Mrs. Leigh, and legally confirm all 
your firm's actions. I am ordered away forthwith, 
and I only direct that you notify me at once, to the 
care of the Secretary of the Navy, of Mr. Houghton's 
return. I may not be able to return to Elmira until 
the hostilities are over. And so I will write you my full 
directions.” 

“Something wrong with that fine fellow,” mused 
Counselor Miller, in his uneasy afternoon, little think- 
ing of the fond agony with which Jasper Leigh lin- 
gered to the last moment by his mother’s grave. 

He bore away only the journal, of all his new pos- 
sessions, though a handsome fortune was available 
now, one sufficient for his every need in life. 

“My will!” said the Commander, with a start, as 


78 SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 

Counselor Miller bade him a respectful farewell. “I 
must think over that matter. I believe that I am alone 
in the world. I will make one, however, and send it 
to you, for deposit in your bank here. You will con- 
tinue to represent me in all.” 

“A human enigma/’ sighed Miller. “It has been a 
sad home-coming, perhaps he, too, only goes to his 
death.” 

The Erie train dashed away eastward, leaving the 
lawyer puzzled as to what manner of man this might 
be. “A fire eater, the bravest of the brave,” mused 
the attorney, “and, yet a man who seems to have lost 
his hold on life. God bless and guard him, a gallant 
and loyal gentleman.” 

“Amen!” said the watchful clerk. 

Commander Leigh in the train read over the sealed 
official dispatch, which called him away to an unknown 
future. It was in the personal handwriting of the aged 
Secretary of the Navy. 

“Report to the Assistant Secretary of the Navy in- 
stantly , at the Brooklyn Navy Yard for secret duty. 
Wear no uniform. Do not register your name and 
rank anywhere. The utmost discretion is enjoined. 
Prepare for a long absence. Telegraph simply your 
departure.” 

“I will not read this journal of the past till my mind 
is calmer,” mused Leigh, “for I am to be flung far out 
from home, it seems, and I cannot reach the deposit in 
the Sub-Treasury. Thank God, there is no bar be- 
tween Felicie Villeroi and myself ! My heritage is only 
one of sorrow — not the burden of shame.” 

And suddenly, with a start of self-condemnation, he 
remembered Surgeon Armytage’s quaint commissions. 
“Poor old chap ; he must have his gew-gaws. For he 
is the only thoroughfare to the woman, who shall, 
please God, one day be my wife!” 


BOOK II. 


In the Confederate Colony at 
Paris. 


chapter v. 

A BAFFLING DISCLOSURE. 

Commander Leigh was strangely agitated as the 
Erie train swept along toward Owego. His prompt 
telegraphic response, the donning of civilian garb, and 
the departure by the first train, bespoke the man long 
schooled to obedience. 

Without a moment's rest, Commander Leigh sped 
across the Hudson, and, in the early morning hours 
of the day following his departure, reported to the 
still sleepy Commodore in charge of the Brooklyn 
Navy Yard. 

“Good!" cried that astonished functionary. “Re- 
main here; do not show yourself in the yard. The 
Assistant Secretary is now my guest. I will wake him 
up. You are simply to disappear without remark." 

“See here, Commodore," sharply cried Leigh. “No 
spy business for me. I am a sailor and an officer. I 
wish to die in the open with a uniform on." 

“Foolish fellow," laughed the official. “You are 
singled out for a signal honor. Be silent, and trust 
to the Department's sense of what is due you and to 
the flag which you serve. I am to personally close up 
all your local affairs, and execute any of your wishes. 
Remember that." 

Half an hour later, Commander Jasper Leigh gazed 
blanklv into the steady eyes of Assistant Secretary 


So SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 

Fox, when that high functionary had closed his verbal 
instructions. 

“And I am to have nothing* to justify my move- 
ments ?” said the astounded sailor. 

“Only this,” laconically said the Assistant Secretary 
as seizing a pen, he wrote: 

“Commander Jasper Leigh, U. S. Navy, will report 
forthwith to the Hon. Charles Francis Adams, Min- 
ister at the Court of St. James.” 

When the official signature had been affixed, the 
Assistant Secretary said: “The Commodore will for- 
ward all your luggage to the American Legation in 
London. You will be furnished with a civilian pass- 
port, under a name selected by the Department, and 
you will travel under that, disguising your official 
character. He will furnish you with passage tickets 
on the Persia , under that name. You will be served 
in a stateroom already reserved for you, and beyond 
your usual exercise, you are not to mingle with the 
passengers. You will be secretly met at Liverpool by 
a Secretary of Legation, with Mr. Adams directions 
to you, addressed in your real capacity and name. In- 
cidental funds will be furnished — you are to take no 
servant or attendant. And now, hoping that you will 
justify the Department’s choice, I leave you to the 
Commodore. My special train already awaits me.” 

Jasper Leigh stood with his face crimsoned before 
the august superior. “Does this retire me from active 
service?” he stubbornly asked. “It is only a gilded 
shame.” 

“Restrain yourself, Commander,” coldly replied 
Gustavus Fox. “You will be later ordered from Lon- 
don as Executive Officer of the Tuscarora, now lying 
at Cadiz, and I venture to sadly prophecy, you will 
see all the fighting you wish, yet. Obey — trust to ul, 
and, give a single-hearted attention to your duty. 
Your country now relies on your prudence, sir, as well 
as your headlong valor.” 

With a silent grasp of the hand, the great man sent 
away the wondering sailor. 

Commodore Merriam received Leigh’s “Commis- 


SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. Si 

sions” with a hearty laugh. “And so my dear old 
shipmate, Robert Armytage, will so soon launch his 
bark, ‘long lingering on the strand/ on the roseate sea 
of matrimony. Favoring gales go with him. Mrs. 
Merriam and I will, at once, carry out all these tender 
provisions of the philosophic bridegroom.” 

“Let me add my own gift to his !” gaily cried Leigh. 
“Here is five hundred dollars to be applied to the pur- 
chase of a diamond brooch for the expectant bride, 
who nursed me out of my desperate state/’ 

“You young Croesus,” muttered the Commodore. 

“I have fallen into a bit of property, sadly enough,” 
said Leigh. “And I am now, alone in the world. But 
what will I do with Boatswain Hannigan and ‘Mon- 
key’ Riley?” demanded the “Special duty” envoy. 

“I’ll send them back to New Orleans on the Bien- 
ville, in charge of a draft of recruits for the fleet with 
Ensign Morton,” said the Commodore. “They can be 
left off at the forts, and then report to the Portsmouth, 
to Surgeon Armytage, who will be kept in charge of 
the shore Hospital station there. And so they can be 
the bearers of your commissions. Hannigan is one 
of the steadiest warrant officers in the Navy, and I’ll 
make your man ‘Monkey’ Riley a Gunner’s mate, to 
give him also a warrant rank. They will both sail in a 
week. Trust all to me. Give them all your letters for 
Surgeon Armytage.” 

Leigh bowed his thanks. “And now, as to myself?” 
he asked with a growing curiosity. 

“You are not to leave my house till I send you to 
the Persia in a tug chartered for the purpose. Go over 
all your kit. Take only a civilian outfit. Your room 
will be ready — funds I have — and I will have all your 
other outfit securely boxed and forwarded by the same 
steamer. You will find it all awaiting you at the Lega- 
tion.” 

“And so, I have nothing to do ?” said Leigh. 

“Only to obey Mr. Adams when you reach England. 
You are to be ‘Mr. Charles Mason,’ a convalescent in- 
valid, traveling for your health, and you are to con- 
verse with no one. Papers, passport, tickets and even 
the marked trunks are all ready. You’ll be kept busy 


82 SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 

enough when Minister Adams gets hold of you, I war - 
rant. Now, my boy, Mrs. Merriam and I wish you to 
share our mess till you ‘drop out/ and so you are not 
to leave the house. It’s only two days’ light prison. 
We’ll make it easy for you. One last suggestion. Off 
with that mustache. You are too plainly a naval offi- 
cer, and a soft slouch hat will hide your fair brow 
above the sailor tan of your cheeks. You must appear 
in Liverpool as an unrecognized civilian. Away now 
to your packing. Not a word to a soul of your secret 
quest. Remember !” 

Left alone, Jasper Leigh bounded to his feet when 
the guns boomed out the salute to the departing As- 
sistant Secretary. “Felicie in Paris — and I in Lon- 
don ! I must write to Armytage.” 

Suddenly, his face saddened in a new hopelessness. 
“I dare not speak. Honor forbids ! My quest is secret. 
But I can urge this veteran son of Cupid to insist on 
Felicie’s early departure for the French capital. Then, 
I must trust to luck. Who knows but I may meet 
her there, and yet, there is the Confederate Court, the 
Masons, the Slidells, the Erlangers, and all the grace- 
ful Creole colony, who now dominate the light-minded 
Eugenie and the waxen-faced Louis Napoleon. I 
would never dare to desert my post.” 

Yet, his pulse bounded as he wrote the letters dic- 
tated by that love which thrives best in absence. 

Two days later, Jasper Leigh suddenly called Han- 
nigan and Riley before him. “Men,” he said, “Fm 
ordered suddenly away on Ordnance duty and I will 
be kept traveling all over the whole country till sent 
to sea. You will both be sent back to La Belle Etoile 
by the Commodore. Riley, you must justify your pro- 
motion to Gunner’s Mate. You, Hannigan, must wait 
for a higher rank till I can get you drafted to my new 
ship. Meanwhile, Surgeon Armytage will take care 
of you both and give you my news. Now, here’s the 
Surgeon’s mail, Hannigan. You are to be advanced 
to Master of the Volunteer Navy soon. And you must 
not go without a shot in the locker.” 

Fifty dollars to each gladdened the old sailors’ 
hearts. 


SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 


8 


Long before the pleasure lovers left their beds the 
next morning, the old Commodore, in mufti, had seen 
“Mr. Charles Mason” snugly located in his private 
stateroom on the Persia. 

Watchful as a panther, he gazed at his own now 
unfamiliar countenance, and, as he walked the deck 
in the evening shadows, disguised in a soft hat and 
English mackintosh, cape, no man suspected the secret 
quest for which Jasper Leigh had naught to show but 
three lines scrawled by Gustavus Fox. 

Leigh never dreamed that the British mail steamer 
Royal Sovereign was then ploughing along, under soft 
summer seas, from Bermuda, bound for Liverpool, and 
that upon her deck, bright-eyed, lithe and fired with 
all the passion of a young devotee of glory, Henri Vil- 
leroi, graceful as a young fawn, bore upon his throb- 
bing breast, dispatches for Commander Bullock and 
Post Captain Semmes, which boded no good to the 
defenseless merchant vessels of Uncle Sam, now scat- 
tered from the boreal regions to either Ind. 

For, hundreds of over-eager workmen were closing 
up the last rivets in the too evident war-like fittings 
of the graceful wooden steamer now lying alongside 
the Laird’s docks at Birkenhead. 

Grave and reverend signiors in England, were now 
busily pow- wowing over the “290,” a veiled corsair, 
still flagless and gunless, but anent the completion of 
which, Charles Francis Adams was making a manly 
outcry. 

England heard the warning voice, though — 

“The Chancellor, sedate and vain, 

“In courteous words, returned reply, 

“But, dallied with his golden chain, 

“And, smiling, put the question by.” 

The aristocratic flagship of the budding fashionables 
of this war time, the once famous Persia, had not 
reached the gulf stream, before Commander Leigh ap- 
preciated all the foresight of Assistant Secretary Fox, 
and the acumen of Commodore Merriam. 

From his stateroom he could easily hear the unre- 
strained chatter of the. pro-slavery passengers. 


84 SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 

In his evening deck walks, the chorus of rebel songs 
rang out from the smoking room. It seemed as if a 
general unmasking had occurred, and quick-witted, 
from his hiding place, screened by his disguise, Leigh 
soon recognized all the types of the hostile war ad- 
venturers on board. 

The bitterness of the luckless Trent affair still lin- 
gered, and the “Meteor flag of England” hung mena- 
cingly over the neutral ground of a British mail ship. 
Financial agents, arms speculators, secret emissaries, 
hungry cotton brokers, all swarmed on the Persia, with 
a coterie of Southern women, fleeing the wrath, ac- 
companied by their adolescent youths, as yet too young 
to be made food for powder. 

Many of the wealthy planters wisely anticipated the 
time when the Confederacy would “rob the cradle and 
the grave” to vainly oppose the resistless Grant and 
the audacious Sherman. 

In an unbridled license of conversation, the blatant 
refugees boldly abused “Abe Lincoln’s” government, 
and exulting in the later successes and Lord Lyons’ 
protection, recklessly exposed the now established sys- 
tem of “swinging around the circle.” An inward trip 
via Bermuda, and Wilmington, Charleston or Mobile, 
a profitable sojourn in Dixie — then a stolen return trip 
across the lines, and an unopposed exit via New York, 
under British protection. This was easy enough now. 
A despicable yet powerful minority of local merchants 
in New York and Boston, aided this nefarious trade, 
whose sole object was “cent per cent” blood money, 
while the lean gray-eyed Southerners, died in win- 
drows, and the sturdy “Yankees” piled their dead up 
“on the lines” with an iron nerve, which at least won 
the respect of their headlong adversaries. 

Silently disgusted, Jasper Leigh drew within his 
shell, and began with mental fear and trembling the 
close study of his dead mother’s journal. 

The Persia was tossing in the rolling swell of the 
Irish Coast before the nameless sailor had finished the 
careful perusal of the heart history of a woman whose 
memory had been beatified by the romantic love of her 
lonely son. 


SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 85 

It was, after all, only a baffling disclosure, a series 
of half confidences, punctuated with more or less self- 
accusation, and evidently written at different times, 
with a reluctant pen and carefully copied from an orig- 
inal which had been probably destroyed. 

But one purpose ran through the whole narrative. 
The fixed determination to conceal names, dates, lo- 
cality and all the surroundings, from the son who was 
now called to sit in judgment upon the proud woman 
who had given to him the breath of life. 

“ Loving heart ! ” sighed Leigh. “ Dear self-tor- 
tured woman, fondly self-accusing.” 

The sailor appreciated his mother’s appeal to his de- 
liberate judgment and mature reflection. To sus- 
pend his first harsh opinion, to cause him later to 
meet an unknown father, with unbiased calmness, 
seemed to be the life penance of the gentle woman 
whose married life had been early blighted. 

It was a strange story. A young orphaned north- 
ern girl, in the flush of early womanhood, a desirable 
heiress in her own right, at a northern water- 
ing place, in the epoch of the social dominance of the 
South, under Jackson’s presidency, met her fate in 
the person of a brilliant Southern planter. 

A Northern marriage united a Catholic slave holder 
with a Protestant child of freedom. The unbroken 
happiness of the first year of the marriage, the length- 
ened honeymoon, the wonders of the Magnolia land 
followed. 

The veiled resentment of the local aristocracy ex- 
hibited to the Northern bride the impressive loneliness 
of a vast Southern plantation — the initiation into the 
hidden horrors of the peculiar institutions soon fol- 
lowed. The husband, leaning towards politics, field 
sports and public life, a leader of the younger chiv- 
alry, ignored the mental horror with which his young 
wife gazed behind the curtain of the dark drama of 
negro slavery. 

It was easy to see the social whirlpool around the 
great manor house, where the reckless planters, far 
from hostile criticism, hid no part of the ghastly skele- 
ton at their feast. The discovery of the presence of 


86 SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 

nameless and raceless hostages of Fate in the shape of 
beautiful quadroons, the scenes of runaway slave hunt- 
ing, the phases of the duello and personal affray, the 
clan quarrels and reckless high life — all the splendid 
hypocrisy of a social system builded over the boiling 
volcano — all these things had filled the young wife’s 
pure soul with a shuddering horror. 

Jasper Leigh turned his head away from the recital 
of the final discovery. The passionate rebellion of 
a beautiful quadroon waiting maid, the accidental open- 
ing of the Blue Beard’s chamber, the moral revolt of 
the young wife, shaken with the dual existence of an 
approaching maternity — all these shocks shattered for- 
ever the fond ideal of the northern wife. 

Then, came the fierce vengeance of an unbridled 
nature — the husband, a man whose fiery passions were 
his only law. 

Leigh could paint the fury of the enraged hus- 
band, at the defiant triumph of the cast-off quad- 
roon beauty who had boldly braved him on his acci- 
dental discovery of the cause of his wife’s irreparable 
unhappiness. 

There was a scene worthy of the courts of Hell. 
The unhappy slave was stripped and scourged like a 
dog, manacled to the whipping post, — the wretched 
woman into whose eyes the planter dared not gaze as 
he doomed her to the torture of the lash. 

The breaking off of the horrid torture by the young 
wife, who tore the “black snake” from the overseer’s 
hands, was followed by the frantic anger of the hastily 
summoned husband. 

Leigh grew pale at the recital of the quadroon’s last 
taunt. “Kill me, you mad devil, if you dare, — and if 
you send me to the Red River, send our child along 
with me! Sell the mother and your son on the block 
together !” 

The long seizure of brain fever, the final disclosures 
of the fate of the beautiful rebel, in whose veins the 
blood of untamable Congo kings was mingled with 
the best strains of Dixie, completed the estrangement 
of husband and wife. 

It was not in a sudden anger, that Agnes Stanwood 


SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 87 

left the plantation, now haunted by the avenging shade 
of the reckless victim of a hideous social system. 

No artifice could disguise the horrible tragedy which 
had followed the scourging of the soft-eyed beauty, 
who had been the unwilling sultana of the now un- 
happy planter. 

A dead child, the living memento of a past infamy, 
had been buried like a beast of the field, — the boy 
whom his quadroon mother had freed from an earthly 
bondage with a friendly knife. 

That the half demented mother had leaped over- 
board in transit to the earthly hell of the Red River, 
after her sale, was an open secret of the country side, 
and so, a blameless Hagar, Agnes Stanwood, smitten 
with an overmastering aversion, had stubbornly de- 
manded only the privilege of departure. 

Too late, the sullen planter paid the penalty of his 
first mad fury. 

“Not for the past,” the revolted northern wife cold- 
ly decreed, “but for the record of this double sacrifice, 
do I condemn you. Of all women on earth, this poor 
creature was sacred to you. And her blood and that 
of her murdered child is on your head forever. Let 
me go — in mercy, and — let me go in peace !” 

In sullen indecision, the husband permitted his es- 
tranged wife to repair to her northern home, under the 
convoy of anxious friends, sorely startled by this cata- 
clysm in their midst. 

That the young northern woman would soon forget 
and at last forgive — that she could be won back by 
time and the birth of the expected heir was the delus- 
ive hope which contented the sullen yet helpless hus- 
band. 

Jasper Leigh admired that decision of character 
which caused Agnes Stanwood on her arrival in the 
north, to seclude herself beyond the reach of all her 
embittered husband’s agents. 

The record of a year followed, in which the husband 
now transplanted with rage, exhausted everv form of 
threat and cajolery to regain possession of his wife 
a*nd infant child. 


88 SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 

The possession of independent means made the re- 
volted wife impregnable in her self-concealment. 

The sailor son could easily divine the frantic dissi- 
pations, — the reckless self-abandonment of the baffled 
husband, between whom and his brave-hearted wife 
still hovered the avenging shade of the demented quad- 
roon suicide, — the woman, who had for a brief reign, 
been the hidden star of the manor house revels. 

Then came the record of the fruitless legal attempts 
at judicial separation, and Jasper Leigh’s heart thrilled 
at the recital of the device which led the Southern aris- 
tocrat to believe that his wife and infant son had per- 
ished in a river horror. 

“That your father could legally drag you from my 
arms — that he could breed you up in the dark cult of 
slavery, — a fear that you might some day fall under 
the awful doom of God’s impending vengeance which 
now hangs over the whole South, caused me, my son, 
in my inexperience, to do wrong that right might come 
about.” 

It was only in the concluding pages, that Jasper 
Leigh read the bitter lesson of this self-protecting du- 
plicity. 

“It is the grist of the gods !” he sadly murmured. 
“That this strong-willed Southern aristocrat should 
accept the seeming verdict of Fate, — that in due time 
he re-married innocently in his own circle — that other 
children claimed his name, — the helpless offspring of 
an illegal yet blameless marriage, all this is but natural, 
and to-day across the dividing line of right and wrong, 
my unknown father stands, — armed in his rights, and 
not to be disturbed in his peaceful old age, by this sad 
indictment of the past. Ah, dark Moloch of Slavery! 
what quivering hearts have been offered up at your 
ghastly shrine! What rivers of innocent blood have 
flowed. And now, the red hot ploughshare of war, 
the curse of fire and sword, seals the vengeance of God 
in the day of His Wrath.” 

“Truly, the sad-eyed Lincoln is right! ‘This country 
cannot exist, half slave and half free.’ ” 

Jasper Leigh had reached a mental calmness before 
the Persia swept up the Mersey. 


SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 89 

“My mother has found that peace which passes all 
understanding — my unknown father, if he lives yet, is 
environed with all the dark horrors of a fratricidal war. 
My mother was only a victim of that false social system 
which makes one standard for the man another for the 
woman. My father is only the wretched heir of the 
ingrained sins of his ancestors, the mere puppet of 
che peculiar institution, staggering under the dark heri- 
tage of the slavery curse, a two-edged sword, slaying 
the wielder and his helpless prey.” 

He solemnly pondered the final words of his dead 
mother’s disclosures. “Years have taught me both 
charity and justice. I give to you no guiding counsel 
for your own future actions. That your father has 
been a man of mark, of high public station, of unsullied 
personal honor, since this veiled tragedy, is known to 
me. I frankly admit my own moral desertion of the 
man to whom I had plighted my wedded faith. I now 
see the grevious wrong inflicted upon him. That you 
have been reared in the light of freedom and the broad 
path of honor, only means that my error saved you 
from his fatal youthful environments. I have given 
to you all the life, half of which I owed to him, and 
only in your maturity, after months of reflection, can 
you decide upon the rightful course to follow. Con- 
demn him not and work no wrong to the innocent ones 
of his household. For many years I have not followed 
his fortunes, save merely to know that he lives, and 
that all his children have died but one. And in making 
many changes of residence in my final retreat at El- 
mira, and the adoption of the disguise of the name of 
Leigh, I have absolutely prevented both suspicion and 
discovery. Your father helplessly accepted my sub- 
terfuge of the river accident in good faith. He must 
not be held accountable for my wrongdoing.” 

“It shall be as God wills,” mused Jasper Leigh, 
after he had exhausted the final words of loving ten- 
derness with which Agnes Stanwood Leigh had closed 
the recital of her blighted life. “Neither do I condemn 
thee,” he murmured. “He that is without sin, let him 
cast the first stone.” 


90 SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 


CHAPTER VI. 

A FAMILIAR FACE.. 

It all seemed so strange as the Persia was towed 
into the muddy Mersey, the sudden transformation 
of ihe inner man. As Jasper Leigh gazed upon the 
miles upon miles of Liverpool's crowded docks, he 
reconciled himself to the Department’s masquerade of 
“Mr. Charles Mason.” The ruse had worked excel- 
lently, for not a soul on board even suspected the 
professional character of the moody stranger — a sup- 
posed convalescent. 

“I am as much ‘Charles Mason’ as I am Jasper 
Leigh,” bitterly mused the young officer. “Southern 
in birth and paternity, Northern by nurture and the 
chrism of a mother’s blood, I belong to the whole 
country. Its adopted child, my home is only under 
the flag, an universal shelter.” 

Then his thoughts turned to the importance of his 
secret mission, he was idly watching the stolid British 
customs inspector turning over “Mr. Charles Mason’s” 
luggage, when a stranger gazed intently upon him. 

The recognition was mutual. There was the mystic 
sign, and Leigh’s blood leaped up. “Every heart 
throb that I own, belongs to my country, now,” he 
thought, as he recalled the insulting jibes of the motley 
herd of ship’s passengers. “It seems that disloyalty 
is the only go, now,” mused Leigh, as the stranger 
significantly said: “Queen’s Hotel; I have a carriage 
waiting here.” 

Passively following his conductor, Jasper Leigh 
guarded a judicious silence, until the two young men 
were safe in a comfortable apartment at the Queen’s. 

Behind locked doors, the stranger quickly made him- 
self known. “Everett Morton, unaccredited attache 
of the United States Legation at London,” said the 
earnest faced young diplomat. “Here are Minister 
Adams’ orders to Commander Jasper Leigh, United 
States Navy. You are to read them and thoroughly 


SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 9 1 

digest them. To-night I will conduct you to Chester, 
where a confidential servant, one of our secret service 
men, awaits us. You then will take the railway back 
to Birkenhead while I return to London/’ 

The cosy tete-a-tete dinner was ended before Jasper 
Leigh grasped the full nature of his duties. 

“My face is unknown to the authorities,” said Mor- 
ton. “Yours fortunately also. I am an inmate of 
Minister Adams’ private residence, and I avoid the 
Legation, for London fairly swarms with Confederate 
spies, both paid and volunteer. Liverpool also is a 
hotbed of Southern sympathy, for here only Cotton 
is King. Fraser, Trenholm & company, the finan- 
cial agents of Jeff Davis, dog every loyal American 
who lingers a day in Liverpool. Now, Birkenhead is 
a mere park for the Lairds, the millionaire ship 
builders. John Hartley, your factotum to be, has been 
for fifteen years an American cotton sampler here, and 
a loyal man, he knows every house in Liverpool and 
Birkenhead. To you will be given the duty of watch- 
ing the ‘290’ and fathoming every future move made 
by her builders. To Hartley is given the duty of for- 
warding all your dispatches to Minister Adams. He 
has a special code prepared by me. And to determine 
every detail with regard to her construction, proposed 
armament, destination, outfit, her officers and crew, 
all this is your task. You can send Hartley up to 
London at any time, funds and orders will be trans- 
mitted through him.” 

“Can this pirate not be stopped ?” indignantly cried 
Leigh. 

“Minister Adams is neglecting nothing,” sighed 
Morton, “but, Sir John Harding, Queen’s Advocate, 
openly leans towards the Southern side. John Slidell 
and James Murray Mason are still the heroes of 
English society, since Wilkes’ rash faux pas of 
November 8th, 1861. They have Commander Bullock, 
Captain Raphael Semmes, and other able subordi- 
nates. Blockade run cotton furnishes all the funds. 
All that we can do is to make an irrefragable case, to 
protest and openly demand the seizure of the ‘290/ and 
then, if she is allowed to slip awav to follow her to 


92 SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 

the uttermost ends of the earth. Minister Adams will 
send you minute directions. We have also women 
messengers and a fairly good secret service. You 
are to write no letter, send no dispatch, only to use 
our messengers and instantly burn every document 
you receive. For your rooms may be secretly searched. 
A.l strangers are watched here. You are to cling to 
the ‘290/ using your full naval experience in every way. 
But they will let her go. We already know that!” 

“And then?” fiercely said Leigh. 

“You are to join the heavily armed Tuscarora now 
lying with the Kearsarge at Gibraltar, and, as Execu- 
tive Officer, follow this pirate till she sinks under your 
broadsides.” 

“God knows I will gladly shed my heart’s blood to 
see the pirate go down !” solemnly said Leigh. 

“Your first duty will be to get an entirely English 
outfit of garments at Chester,” said Morton. “Let 
Hartley handle that. A first disguise is easily gotten 
at the ready-made shops. I will have the bills of lad- 
ing of your official baggage and, Hartley will send all 
your American outfit to me at London. He has ample 
funds. In every possible form of disguise, you must 
haunt Laird’s shipyard. Change without regard to 
expense. Hartley will get you a safe outside hiding 
place for this masquerading and aid you in it. Now 
what can I do for you?” 

“Only attend to forwarding all my home letters by 
Hartley?” mused Jasper Leigh. “They will 411 come to 
the Legation from the Department in the sealed dis- 
patch bags. So, Assistant Secretary Fox has pledged 
me.” 

Everett Morton bowed. “One thing only might 
defeat your usefulness,” anxiously said the attache. 
“Both Liverpool and Birkenhead are full of the secret- 
ly smuggled officers and warrant officers of this ‘290,’ 
and many of them were members of the old navy. Be- 
ware of them.” 

“I think my full beard now coming on apace will aid 
my disguise,” laughed Leigh. “I always wore only 
a moustache. You see it has vanished. But I fancy 
that with a respirator, blue eye-glasses, and a heavy 


SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 93 

neck tnuffller, my own mother would not know me, 
especially in British-cut civilian garb.” 

Leigh admired the young Harvard man’s adroitness, 
in his early departure apparently for New York, and 
the neat arrangements which landed himself at mid- 
night in a cosy commercial hotel ; t Chester. 

There, sturdy John Hartley, a thick-set gray-eyed 
man of forty-five, led the two new friends to a fair 
upper chamber. 

An hour spent over the supper table, released the 
attache for his return flight to London bearing the 
good news that Jasper Leigh would be on guard over 
the ”290,” on the morrow. 

The three friends joined hands and solemnly swore 
anew their lifelong devotion to the outraged flag of 
an Union girt with fire at home and betrayed abroad. 

“Never mind,” hoarsely swore Jasper Leigh, “a 
stern chase is a long one, but we will haunt this sea 
rover to a spot where she will yet show copper to the 
sky in her last downward plunge.” 

Dark, ardent, impassioned, the young American col- 
legian was thrilled with Leigh’s determination. “Right 
you are,” he cried. “We will live to see the old starry 
flag float unchallenged on every sea and from every 
peak in our broad land. It’s always darkest before 
dawn !” 

In the early afternoon of the next day, Jasper 
was installed in the cozy new chambers at Birkenhead, 
having been transformed on the Dee into a fair mid- 
dle class Briton. 

“Yes,” critically said Hartley, “the frock coat, um- 
brella, spectacles and top hat, are all well enough, the 
tan gloves and the muffler, but, speak English to no 
one! Your Yankee accent is your ever present dan- 
ger.” 

“Then I must do the French, Spanish or German 
act, at a pinch,” smilingly said Leigh. “I know all 
three languages.” 

“Capital !” rejoined Hartley, as Jasper Leigh sal- 
lied out, burning with curiosity to have a first sight 
at the vessel now attracting an undue attention for 
any peaceful designs. 


94 SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 

Two hours later, screened by his blue spectacles, 
Commander Leigh was stumbling over piles of debris 
in the Laird’s great ship yard, with a feigned care- 
lesness, making his way towards a beautiful bark-rig- 
ged, screw steamer, now lying under the rigging 
shears, when he ran plumply against a heavy sec man, 
moving briskly along, accompanied by a slender youth 
of graceful aspect. 

'‘Jimmy Kells, by all that’s holy!” gasped Leigh, 
as he mumbled a few words of Portuguese, in answer 
to the Confederate officer’s blunt apology. 

The sudden apparition of one of the destined officers 
of Jeff Davis’ foreign built sea rover, brought the 
blood in floods to Leigh’s indignant heart. “I’d like 
to have you at eight hundred yards’ range under a 
hot shell fire, my- friend,” he mused, but he stood spell- 
bound as he caught a glimpse of the graceful youth 
now earnestly talking to Kells. 

“Henri Villeroi ! Can it be ?” was Leigh’s startled 
whisper, and then he smiled derisively. “No! That 
boy is still cooped up in Mobile, behind the guns of 
forty blockaders. Am I dreaming? I think I have 
lost my usual nerve.” 

But he resolutely bent his wits to his task, realizing 
the imminent danger of discovery at any moment. 

It was the early middle of July, and five hundred 
hammers rang out on the “290” as side caulker and 
deck worker, carpenter and joiner, rivetter and rigger, 
plied their lusty arms. 

Jasper Leigh drew a long breath. “She is a beauty,” 
he sighed. “Even if a Confederate, she is a beauty 
and no man can gainsay that.” 

These words embodying the frank admiration of a 
sailor found an echo — four thousand miles away, at 
La Belle Etoile, in the freshness of a glorious morn- 
ing, for, in the great drawing-rooms of the old man- 
sion, a courtly gathering had assembled to see “cap- 
tivity led captive” in the person of the happy hearted 
Elise Delmar. 

The return of the Bienville had enabled Surgeon 
Armytage to appear in the coveted suit of full dress 


SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 95 

gala naval uniform, his sacrificial robes of dazzling- 
splendor. 

There, under the slightly frowning picture of Major 
Aristide Villeroi, now the most dauntless Major Gen- 
eral of Van Dorn’s wild hosts, surrounded by a gently 
murmuring bevy of her patrician New Orleans women 
friends, the gentle widow, whose guitar had ensnared 
the son of Esculapius, appeared at the improvised altar, 
in all the flush of her Indian sumer beauty. 

Gallant officers, bright faced young “subs,” the 
greatly increased coterie of the Southern refugee 
ladies, made up an admiring circle, while the band of 
the Portsmouth, breathed undertones of witching mel- 
ody. 

“She is a beauty — even if she is a Confederate,” 
whispered Captain Paul Raymond, U. S. Navy, to 
“Handsome Kennedy” of the Marines. 

“And, he goeth forth to the slaughter like a lamb,” 
murmured the best-looking chap in his gallant corps. 
“See the beatific smile on his manly face.” 

It was even so ! Robert Armytage and Elise Delmar 
were made man and wife in a whole-hearted love, and 
the wedding feast was long famed for the open hearted 
hospitality of the “Services,” the graceful speech of 
Lieutenant Kennedy in proposing the health of the 
bride, and the felicitious manner in which the suave 
Episcopal chaplain poured oil upon the troubled waters 
of this “across the lines” marriage. 

It was only when the stars shone down upon the 
husband and wife, seated on the veranda, when cut- 
ter and shallop, ambulance and carriage, had carried 
away the flower of the three services, that Elise Army- 
tage laid her hand upon her gallant husband’s arm. 

“And now Robert, to labor for the future of our 
beloved children! Henri is safe abroad, far beyond 
the desperate river fighting, the deadly harbor duels, 
which we so dreaded for him. This very day I have 
received a secret letter from Felicie by my dearest 
school fellow, who came on from Mobile. I know it 
will make your heart happy. Madame Levert is press- 
ing our dear girl to marry General Frank Pendleton 
of Kentucky. Gallant son of the Blue Grass State, 


96 SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 

this union would surely mean the loss of both these 
estates and the future impoverishment of Henri. Fe- 
licie is a strange girl. She never mentions Jasper’s 
name, but she writes me that she is to sail for Nassau 
on the next trip of the Bat , and then, go to the Slidell’s 
and Erlanger’s at Paris and Frankfort. ‘I shall not 
marry, until the war is over,’ is her only message to 
me.” 

“And that, means jasper Leigh!” joyously cried the 
happy bridegroom. “Write to her, Elise, by this safe 
friend. Tell her only that any sealed letters addressed 
to Commander Jasper Leigh, U. S. Navy, care Navy 
Department, Washington, D. C., will safely reach him. 
The honor of the Department is inviolate. Until she 
sails, any letter to you, will be forwarded by me. 
Thank God, we are spared one haunting horror ; Leigh 
can now never meet Henri in action as he has been 
permanently detached on ordnance duty. As for Gen- 
eral Villeroi, he can never be opposed in the field to 
Jasper. I leave my dear boy’s fate in your hands, for 
the thought of losing Felicie nearly drove him mad. 
And now we have our own life labor before us. The 
wolves are closing in on Le Bocage and La Belle 
Etoile. We must save these plantations, for when 
this cruel war is over, our crown of joy will be to 
see Jasper and Felicie wedded here in the old home.” 

“General Villeroi !” faltered Elise Armytage. “Only 
him I fear, his proud stern heart, his rancor against 
all Northerners.” 

A week later, the new queen regent of La Belle Etoile 
handed her husband a sealed letter. “You see, 
Robert,” she said. “Love finds its way even across 
the lines. Felicie sails with Mrs. Senator Preston next 
week. Madame Levert has failed ! The Confederacy 
has lost Felicie.” 

“By Jove!” cried Armytage, clasping his wife to 
his breast, “I would give a thousand dollars to be 
able to telegraph to Leigh : “Letter from Mobile 
coming!’ Where the devil is he, anyway?” 


SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 97 


CHAPTER VII. 

HER LETTER. 

While Robert Armytage soon forgot all his olden 
philosophy under the orange blossoms of La Belle 
Etoile, the exciting secret service at Birkenhead drove 
both love and genealogy from the mind of the putative 
“Mr. Charles Mason.” 

Jasper Leigh’s fiery loyalty spurred him on to un- 
usual exertions in the flagging cause of the Union. 
In these middle days of July, ’62, the destination of 
the “290” had become the burning mystery of the hour. 
Only gloomy reports were wafted from America, for 
the Western armies were seemingly paralyzed by the 
temporary eclipse of General Grant, the divided Union 
Army in Virginia was scattered, sullen and disheart- 
ened, and drifting along to the frightful defeat of 
the Second Bull Run and the Lancashire cotton fam- 
ine, naturally determined the wavering sympathies of 
England. 

While John Hartley haunted Liverpool, and flitted 
to and from London, Commander Leigh busied night 
and day, explored every nook of Birkenhead. 

The “290” was now warped out from under the 
rigging shears, and even a tyro could see that the 
graceful wooden steamer of a thousand and fifty tons 
was pierced for twelve guns, and her main deck was 
strengthened for two heavy pivot guns amidships. The 
Lairds seemed to have produced a classic model for 
speed. 

“A racer, not a fighter !” mused Leigh, as he hunted 
all over Birkenhead vainly for a second glimpse of 
the sturdy Kells, and at last, dismissed the apparition 
of Henri Villeroi as a mere trick of the senses. 

While Hartley dredged the public houses, sailor 
resorts and lodging houses of Liverpool for clues to 
the mystery of the' “290,” Leigh in various disguises 
rambled all over Cheshire vainly, in search of sus- 
picious Americans. 


98 SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 

Neither in Bidston, Wirral, Claughton, Oxton, Tran- 
mere or Higher Bebington, could Leigh flush the hid- 
den enemy, the crew of the “290.” 

The music halls and theatres of Birkenhead were 
slyly visited, yet Leigh and Hartley only discovered 
an unusual activity in fitting out slim lead colored 
sea-rovers for the Bahama and Bermuda trade, a fever 
of the hour. 

Cotton, advancing by leaps and bounds, became as 
much of a craze as the South Sea stock of the specious 
Law. The frenzy of illicit trade with the revolted 
South, the outfitting of fifty steam blockade runners, 
had filled both ports with the monied adventurers of 
the world, and both Union and Confederate govern- 
ments were now draining Europe of all available war 
material, however antiquated and, at ruinous prices. 

Liverpool was filled with schemers and military ad- 
venturers, seeking the service of either of the two 
American belligerents, and so, the quiet lodger in 
Hamilton Square attracted but little attention. 

Leigh’s full beard, now an effectual disguise, his 
use of foreign languages, and his reticent habits, pro- 
cured him only the passing verdict of being an eccen- 
tric foreigner with an imperfect knowledge of Eng- 
lish. 

Haunting the great bridge and machinery works, 
roving the shipyards under the pretense of the pur- 
chase of a steam yacht, Leigh gradually wormed him- 
self into the society of the upper workmen, the fore- 
men, the shipbrokers, and all those who are the beach 
combers of a busy marine port. 

Varying his meeting with Hartley, Leigh found the 
park, the libraries, the places of amusement and cosy 
“publics,” to be a source of much caught-up informa- 
tion. 

For every tongue was carelessly loosened now. 
The feverish haste with which the “290” was being 
equipped, was easily explained by the growing agita- 
tion in the public press, and thousands watched at 
long range, the official duel between the astute Ameri- 
can Minister and the able Confederate Joint Commis- 
sioners to England and France. 


SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 


99 


Bit by bit, Leigh and Hartley caught up all the loose- 
ly held secrets of Liverpool and Birkenhead, and with 
lightning speed, Hartley flew back and forth be- 
tween London and the great port, leaving reports and 
orders with an unerring sagacity. 

That his official outfit and personal luggage was 
now safe in London, satisfied Leigh, who still longed 
to have the power to transport the sealed deposit in the 
Sub-Treasury at New York to the vaults of the Ameri- 
can Legation. 

That his mother’s marriage certificate, his own bap- 
tismal papers, all his father’s letters and his pictures 
were available as final proofs, made him restless and 
eager to meet Counselor Sidney Houghton, now busied 
in floating a section of the U. S. Government loan 
abroad, with his headquarters in London. 

But even in his mad unrest as to Felicie’s fate, Leigh 
turned away from all to aid the American Minister in 
trapping the dangerous sea-rover, now so gracefully 
rocking on the tide waters of the Mersey. 

It was a magnificent duel of wits between the stately 
Adams and his two brilliant Southern antagonists. 
The polished Bostonian, son and grandson of a Presi- 
dent, scholar, publicist, orator and sage, an inter- 
national lawyer of repute, with an unbroken calmness 
knotted up every legal mesh, gradually involving that 
great neutral government on whose friendship the 
South had relied, to finally win its freedom. 

The brother-in-law of the eloquent Edward Everett, 
never lost his temper, ignoring the long delays, the 
veiled hostility, and the specious by-plays of the Brit- 
ish Government. 

Far beyond the storms of the Civil War, Adams saw 
the moral triumph of the Geneva Arbitration awaiting 
him, as he pithily demanded the detention of the “290” 
on the ground that her evident construction, abso- 
lutely unfitted her for any purposes of peaceful trade, 
her war-like character shining out most clearly. 

Leigh at once recognized the gravity of his own 
duties, in submitting the professional reports, which 
were clear proofs of a serious error and ample to sus- 
tain the position of Minister Adams. With infinite 


LcFG. 


IOO SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 

patience, meeting with a hundred adventures and in- 
trigues, Jasper and Hartley finally unraveled ail the 
secret plans of Bullock and the accomplished Raphael 
Semmes, who, since the spring of ’6i, had been trying 
to evolve a Confederate Navy. 

The last confidential report dispatched to London, 
ten days before the hasty flitting of the “290” gave 
Minister Adams the news that the steamer Agrippina 
of London, was already heavily loaded with guns, war- 
like stores and coal, only waiting orders, and that the 
Bahama , had been also chartered to convey a picked 
crew and a large number of cabin passengers to the 
open sea. 

Secret service funds were poured out like water by 
Leigh and Hartley, the crowning victory of the last, 
being the bribery of a heart broken Liverpool bar- 
maid, a beautiful servant of Bacchus, whose lover, 
an expert gunner of H. M. S. Excellent, had been 
trusted to select the hardy tars who were to handle 
the batteries of the “290.” 

It was the twenty-fifth day of July when Leigh re- 
ceived Minister Adams’ desponding final instructions. 

“You will hold on to the last,” wrote the diplomat. 
“W e must rest our case on the doctrine of notice, after 
all. The Crown thinks that our evidence of destina- 
tion is insufficient. I have put in all that is prudent 
of your valuable secret reports. Sir John Harding 
now has the final case, and his sickness, real .or feigned, 
will surely delay a decision too late. That wai ships 
may be built in a neutral port, that war material can 
be bought there, is true, — but the joining of them, 
with the intent, fixes the responsibility. And, you have 
solved the riddle! They will of course assemble the 
whole far from England, and in the open seas in 
another jurisdiction. Watch, my loyal friend; find 
out her proposed destination; wait and see the pirate 
off. Then, hasten here for my personal orders. My 
colleague Dayton, our Minister to Paris, has his eyes 
on two heavy French Iron-clads, being built at Tou- 
lon, El Tousson and El Monassir. I may need you 
to definitely fix their hostile character. Your destina- 
tion is the quarterdeck of the Tuscarora, and may you 


SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 


IOI 


yet help to sink the “290” ! Send Hartley to me at 
once with evidence of the destination. I will send 
messengers off to Gibraltar, where the Kearsarge and 
Tuscarora are only feigning to watch the dismantled 
and rotten Sumter. They are really waiting to chase 
this queen of the seas when she raises her flag.” 

In spite of a week’s energetic love-making by the 
versatile John Hartley, Jasper Leigh could only ex- 
tract from the love-lorn bar-maid, the news that her 
departing gunner had confided to her the secret of 
his mail address and that of his mates as Kingston, 
Jamaica. 

Neither bribe nor cajolery would extract another 
hint, for the buxom British beauty was in all the fond 
agonies of unhappy love, the tender throes of parting. 

Leigh, haggard and sleepless, wrote his final opinion 
to the vigilant Minister. “The destination of the 
pirate is undoubtedly somewhere near the Azores,” 
was Leigh’s well-judged verdict. “Smooth seas, quiet 
and retirement, are necessary for the safe transfer of 
coal and ordnance at sea, and the rotten Sumter’s 
crew has all probably been smuggled over to Terceira 
or Flores, to join the fleet new cruiser. If you can 
get orders to the Tuscarora to search those islands, 
the sea rover may be caught in flagrante delictu !” 

The wildest excitement pervaded Birkenhead, where 
the rakish “290” now lay in the stream turning her 
engines, and with all her sails and standing rigging 
in ship shape fashion. 

Agents of Fraser, Trenholm & Company openly 
buzzed around the suspected boat, but, neither Leigh 
nor Hartley could detect a sign of any Southern repre- 
sentatives or the least evidence of belligerent prepara- 
;ion. 

Both the loyalists sprang up in a mad delight on 
July twenty-eighth, when Hartley brought back a la- 
conic dispatch from Charles Francis Adams at London. 

“Orders to detain the ‘290’ have been issued and 
are now only waiting the seals of the proper authenti- 
cations. Watch day and night, however. I fear some 
treachery at the last. The Southern Colony here is 
wild with excitement.” 


102 SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 

Jasper Leigh's face grew grave and stern as he 
said : “Hartley, I will trust to the pretty barmaid's 
fond love melancholy, rather than Earl Russell’s tardy 
mandates. Neither he nor Lord Lyons can conceal 
their pro-slavery leanings. You must at once go down 
to the little inn near the ‘ 29 o’s’ moorings. Watch her 
day and night. You have your own trusty man to 
relieve you. Charter a tug for an excursion to the 
mouth of the Mersey and fit her out for a three days' 
trip. We will dog this boat. She may give the law 
officers of the Crown the slip." 

Closing up all his local affairs, Jasper Leigh gloomily 
now wandered around Birkenhead. The overpowering 
influence of the Lairds, the patrons of this vast manu- 
facturing center, had baffled him at every turn, and 
yet he nursed one valuable secret, the discovery that 
the keels of two heavy iron plated rams were hastily 
being laid, both of them designed from the ideas of 
Bullock, Semmes, Waddell and other Confederates. 

“It will take two long years to finish these," growled 
Leigh. “Jefferson Davis must have insured the life 
of the Confederacy." 

That “life insurance" in the shape of Stonewall Jack- 
son, was now luring the bewildered Pope into the 
awful slaughter of the Second Bull Run ! Leigh was 
sadly disheartened. 

“Dayton, the calm New Jersey lawyer, Senator and 
would-be Vice President, is no match even with the 
impassive Adams, for the brilliant Slidell and the able 
Mason." 

The young officer marveled at the strange meta- 
morphosis of John Slidell, a New Yorker born, a 
son of Columbia College, who, in his legal career at 
New Orleans, had become more ultra-secession, than 
even the most fiery Creole. Congressman, Minister 
to Mexico, Senator, Slidell had risen to National emi- 
nence, and now, was the very arbiter of public feel- 
ing in Paris. 

His able colleague, James Murray Mason, a Vir- 
ginian of bluest blood, had the experience of Congress, 
the Senate, and the Chairmanship of the Foreign Re- 
lations Committees, to aid him in pulling down the 


SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 103 


edifice, the building of which his noble grandfather had 
supported with his genius. 

“The brilliant author of the Fugitive Slave Law is 
not the man to be defeated by a mere legal quibble/' 
mused Leigh. “The charter of the Agrippina and Ba- 
hama tells me that Mason, Slidell, and Semmes will 
yet have their say." 

It was on the morning of the thirty-first of July, 
1862, when Jasper Leigh leaped to his feet as Hartley’s 
man dashed into his rooms. 

“The ‘290’ has full steam up for a trial trip, Sir, 
though she is by no means finished. But, sea stores 
and a working crew were all smuggled aboard last 
night. Hurry up, Sir ! Mr. Hartley is waiting on the 
Osprey for you." 

“See here, Anderson," calmly said Leigh, handing 
him a fifty pound note. “My bills are all paid. Get 
a fly. Take all my luggage. Hasten back to London 
and tell Mr. Everett Morton, at Minister Adams’ 
house, that I am following the ‘290’ out to sea, and 
that I will put into Crosby, and Hartley will telegraph 
him all the particulars in cipher. I will take the train 
from Crosby direct down to London, leaving Hartley 
behind me here, to gather up the aftermath.” 

Seizing his mackintosh, field glasses, and a note 
book, slipping a compass in his jocket, and grasping 
his dwarf sextant case, Jasper Leigh stole out of the 
aristocratic chambers which he was never to see again. 

In a side street he quickly hailed a passing fly, and 
driving by the Lairds’ yards, noted the entire absence 
of any unusual demonstrations. “Sly enough," he 
growled. “Not even a lounger is there ! They have 
passed the word for caution." 

Once at the dock, where the snub-nosed Osprey 
now waited with the hissing steam blowing off, “Mr. 
Charles Mason" silently grasped Hartley’s hand. “Go 
down the river slowly and easily Hartley," said Leigh. 
“Tell the skipper that I am looking along to find some 
old steam yacht of a hundred tons to charter for a 
cruise to Norway." 

And then Jasper Leigh seated in the stern, gazed 
back at the “290," whose gleaming copper rose high 


104 SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 

out of the water. “They take great risks,” soliloquized 
Leigh, as without the slightest demonstration, the “290” 
slipped her moorings and crept along down the crowd- 
ed stream, her decks still vocal with the clattering 
hammers of the workmen. 

“There’s a beauty, Sir,” said stout Captain An- 
struther, eyeing the trim lines of the still nameless 
cruiser. “They are just running her down the river 
to take the rough edge off her engines. My brother 
is a pilot on board of her.” 

With an affected carelessness, Jasper Leigh gazed 
on the flagless, gunless, unballasted sea hawk, as she 
daintily picked her way through the tangles of the 
crowded Mersey. 

“A deed without a name !” fiercely growled the ex- 
asperated Union officer, as the tug, guided by the 
curious Anstruther, raced alongside, so near that Leigh 
could hear the quickening throb of the two beautiful 
three hundred and fifty horse-power engines. 

“What is she intended for?” casually asked “Mr. 
Charles Mason.” 

“For the quick fruit trade between Spain and this 
port,” replied the British tar with an unholy wink. 

It was only two hours later when Liverpool lay far 
behind them, and the rough billows of the channel 
tossed the empty “290” high on their rolling crests, 
that Jasper Leigh’s quick eye noted the closing of all 
the ports, the trimming of the yards, and all the evi- 
dences of a departure, sine animo rivertendi. 

Captain Anstruther was sulky enough three hours 
later, when the Osprey wallowed in the chopping seas 
off Wallasey. 

“Blow me tight, Mr. Hartley,” the bluff sailor cried. 
“The jig is up. I don’t want to flounder here in this 
dirty channel. It’s all we can do to get safely over 
to Crosby. There goes the ‘290,’ heading due west 
for the Skerries, and God knows where ! Stole away ! 
It’s a blamed queer trial trip, this here rum go, and 
now, if you’ll join me in a glass of grog, I don’t mind 
telling you that my brother Bill, the pilot, took a six 
months’ kit and outfit away with him, so my old 
woman told me. 


SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 1 05 

“And this boat had no customs papers or clearance 
or no regular crew. She is neither well found nor bal- 
lasted, cried Hartley, in affected amazement. 

“It’s a case of cut stick and run for it !” blurted out 
the rough sailor. And there’ll soon be a pretty to do 
about this. Pipe all hands to grog !” 

“Let Anstruther run us into Crosby as soon now 
as he can,” quietly said Jasper Leigh. “We have seen 
the sea hawk’s flight.” 

“I’ll be bail for one thing,” savagely opined the tug 
master as the Osprey turned and left the rover, skim- 
ming along due west and then headed toward the Lan- 
caster shore. “That thing will be the Queen of the 
Seas. She’s a rum thing to go, and, she will raise the 
devil somewhere.” 

Silent and moody, swearing a grim oath of ven- 
geance, Jasper Leigh watched the long flaring black 
band which now alone marked the path of the fleeing 
corsair. “Clearly blameless as regards guns, war crew 
and munitions, this water snake will be finished in 
some neutral hiding place, and then — up goes the Stars 
and Bars,” he mused, lifting his hat in a last salute. 
“Au revoir, ‘290,’ I will see you later, dainty sea 
nymph, in a new dress, in alien hands; with red Bel- 
lona’s steel jewelry belted around your slender waist. 
We have been tricked, betrayed, outgeneralled, and 
now it only remains to see if she will outfight her fated 
antagonist. If they can only man and arm her to 
match her speed and design, she will be an ugly devil 
to meet. We have nothing in the navy to run her 
down. Only the Vanderbilt can match her speed.” 

The shades of a sloppy wet night-wetted the good- 
bye between John Hartley and his secret Chief. 

Leigh took occasion to say in Anstruther’s presence : 
“Hartley, if you can’t find me a suitable boat in Liver- 
pool, write to my bankers in London, and I’ll give up 
my Norway trip and so spend the summer in Switzer- 
land.” 

Leigh’s careless adieu at the little seaport, deceived 
the tug’s skipper, who merely fancied that the sup- 
posed invalid was not desirous of spending eight hours 
more in buffeting the current back to the huge seaport, 


106 SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 

never more destined to be graced by the presence of 
the graceful “290.” 

Leigh was in his train, whistling along to London, 
when Captain Anstruther over t’other bottle, frankly 
unbosomed himself to Hartley. 

“It is really stole away, my boy, and the Yankees are 
jolly well outwitted. The law officers will leave Lon- 
don to-night to seize this same ‘290,’ but we had a 
pr'vate notice by wire, and so, they will come a day 
after the fair.” 

“There’ll be serious trouble over this thing,” gravely 
said Hartley. 

“Oh, it’s all in my eye,” gaily said Anstruther. “We 
don’t care about the niggers in the States, but, the cot- 
ton we will have!” 

And so, Commander Jasper Leigh stepped out of 
the train in London long before sleepy Liverpool 
awakened to the well-feigned astonishment of the dis- 
appearance of the Messrs. Lairds’ pet creation. Some 
universal compact tied all men’s tongues, and not even 
a sign of exultation marked the devotees of the Golden 
Calf. 

But a grim resentment tenanted the United States 
Legation, as well as the private residence of the irate 
Minister. 

Anderson’s momentous tidings had brought Everett 
Morton to the Minister’s home, eager to receive 
Leigh’s last report. 

“Mr. Charles Mason” was at once closeted with the 
unimpassioned Charles Francis Adams. Morton had 
only time to whisper: “Your luggage is all ready 
here. Here are two letters, and the financier Sidney 
Houghton is staying at Claridges. I am to wait on 
you and see you off at Southampton to-morrow.” 

“Where away bound?” cried Leigh. 

“To Gibraltar, to join the T us car or a. You will 
carry their dispatches. I go to Paris to Minister Day- 
ton there, with all the private instructions.” 

Four hours later, Jasper Leigh left the great Min- 
ister, who alone upheld our prestige in England, in 
all those bitter war years. 

Leigh’s face was flushed with pride at the commenr 


SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH . \ 107 

dations of his new chief. “The Department shall know 
of your invaluable services,” said Mr. Adams. “And 
now, only one more jaunt, in mufti. All your effects 
will be sent to the United States Consular agent at 
Gibraltar. You will be my guest till to-morrow. Mr. 
Morton will give you the dispatches for the comman- 
ders of our two vessels at Gibraltar, and also for the 
fleet. To prevent suspicion, you must not leave my 
house. Once on the deck of the Tuscarora, you will 
resume your binding of blue and gold.” 

“And, can we have no international redress?” hotly 
urged Leigh. 

“We must wait for the final damning proof,” sadly 
replied Charles Francis Adams. “When the ‘290’ com- 
mits a single belligerent act, then she becomes an ob- 
ject of rightful attack, and the responsibility of Eng- 
land is fixed. It shall be the labor of my life to follow 
up this grave matter. It is to your profession, that we 
look for a prompt vengeance.” 

Ten years later, in a spirit of the frankest magna- 
nimity, Great Britain paid fifteen millions of dollars in 
gold for that little mistake of leaving the gates ajar! 
But, the sea was first reddened with our destroyed con- 
merce ! 

Stunned by the rapidity of his orders, Jasper Leigh 
left alone, at last turned to his forgotten letters. 

The first gave to him the unwelcome information 
that Counselor Houghton could not obtain the release 
of the deposit in the Sub-Treasury without a personal 
visit to America. 

“I regret this only the more,” wrote the lawyer, “as 
I shall be detained here for a year as a fiscal agent of 
the United States Government on the Continent, and 
in these dark days, no loyal man can abandon his flag. 
Unfortunately, the sudden death of Mr. Jarvis, loses 
forever to you, all the confidential history of your 
lamented mother’s life and affairs. My dead partner 
was the sole depositary of all her secrets, and I am 
sorry to say, he left no papers bearing upon anything, 
save your current monetary affairs. It is a grievous 
blow, and one only to be endured with a manly forti- 


Io8 SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 


tudc. Mr. Jarvis was your mother’s life-long friend 
and her sole adviser.” 

The paper dropped from Jasper Leigh’s hands ! 

“Still in the dark,” he murmured. “Fate is against 
me.” 

With a listless hand, he opened a bulky envelope 
countersigned “Navy Department,” and then, his heart 
leaped up, for a long letter in the script of that hap- 
piest of bridegrooms, Robert Armytage, was accom- 
panied by one bearing the arms of the Villerois. 

The crossed swords with the motto “Tout, ou ricn,” 
made his pulse beat in a fond alarm. 

Long after he had read the loving words which had 
thrilled his heart, Jasper Leigh sat with his head 
dropped upon his breast. 

But eighteen days from Mobile, the Southern 
beauty’s frank confession gave a new light to the flit- 
ting of the “290.” 

“I must see the Minister at once. I was right ! It 
was that young monkey, Henri Villeroi, who was tow- 
ing along with Kells. And so, Captain Semmes has 
sent for Henri on foreign duty, to be attached to his 
ship. Strange irony of fate !” 

But, a trial which wrung his heart lay in the last lines 
of the stately beauty’s letter. “I leave Mobile in the 
Bat, in two days, with Mrs. Senator Preston, and as 
the Bat is the swiftest blockade runner afloat, and she 
only coals at Bermuda, I will reach Liverpool about 
August first and then go at once to Paris, where you 
can address me care Messrs. Erlanger and Co.” 

“To-morrow; to-morrow!” gasped Leigh, “And 
yet I must go to my duty. It is bitterer than death.” 

It was only after he had given the momentous news 
to Minister Adams, that Jasper Leigh saw his dilemma. 
“I must send my letter to her back to Commodore 
Merriam and have it posted from New York,” he 
sighed, “for I cannot, I dare not, tell her that my 
bounden duty is to sink her cousin’s ship.” 

Three weeks later, Commander Leigh, trumpet in 
hand, stood on the quarter-deck of the fighting Tus- 
carora, as she left the Pillars of Hercules and steered 
out to seek the sea scourge, which, a neutral vessel, 


SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. I09 

with two neutral tenders, was now lying hidden in 
Moelfra Bay in Wales, as yet protected by the flimsy 
fictions of law, but daily taking on the grim panoply 
of war. 

The Tuscarora sailing on a blind cruise, had left the 
Hill of Tarik and the blue Bay of Algesiras far behind, 
before Jasper Leigh recovered his equanimity. Clad 
in his uniform, his sword at his side, he had relapsed 
into the passive state of the responsible Executive Offi- 
cer of a heavy sloop of war. 

The voyage from Southampton to Gibraltar, had 
been but one long drawn out insult. The polyglot pas- 
sengers had all roundly abused the United States Gov- 
ernment, and masked in his civilian disguise, Leigh 
was forced to hold back his burning and indignation. 

“My God, have we no friends in the family of na- 
tions ?” groaned Leigh.- 

And then, philosophy came to his aid. He saw how 
antagonistic the Republican idea of a self-restrained 
Democracy is, to all the aristocratic communities of 
Europe. 

“Government of the people, for the people, and by 
the people, is only a scorn and a hissing here !” he 
mused. 

And yet, the prophetic Lincoln saw, even in these 
darkest hours, that it was not destined to perish from 
the face of the earth ! 


CHAPTER VIII. 

THE BIRTH OF THE “ALABAMA." 

His dispatches duly delivered, Leigh had been but 
coldly received by his new commander, who cut oflf all 
his new subordinate’s eager suggestions as to hunting 
down the “290” by the cold remark: “You can find 
enough to do to attend to your ship and batteries, sir. 
I will direct this cruise." 

Leigh contented himself with a feverish devotion to 
his new duties, and yet, he sighed: “We could sink 


HO SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 

her in ten minutes, should we meet, but the '290' in her 
maiden trim, can easily run three miles to our two.” 

He had already penetrated the magnificently devised 
designs of Raphael Semmes, the ablest commander of 
the war, an individual genius, the bold Admiral of a 
single ship, the man who revolutionized at once and 
alone all naval tactics, making his one unbroken cruise, 
the most memorable of naval annals. 

Before leaving Gibraltar, Leigh drew up a memoir 
for Minister Adams, and sent it on to Everett Morton, 
with a request that a copy might be sent to Minister 
Dayton at Paris, and a duplicate original sent there- 
with, forwarded to Assistant Secretary Fox. 

“The autocrat of the Tuscarora would surely court- 
martial me, if he knew this,” mused Leigh, “but it is 
my final report.” 

The young Commander had designated the Azores, 
the Canary Islands or the Cape Verde Islands on the 
Coast of Morocco, as the final outfitting place of the 
escaped cruiser. 

“The Azores are almost half way between London 
and New York, with ample stores of water and pro- 
visions, a simple neutral official representing weak 
Portugal, and with calm seas and abundant hiding 
places, the '290’ once safely there, commands in a 
square of twenty degrees of middle latitude and longi- 
tude, the short equatorial gap from Brazil to Liberia. 
Through this narrow strait all the outgoing and incom- 
ing unarmed American Commerce moves in the traffic 
to both the Pacific and the China Seas. A half dozen 
heavy Union cruisers circling in this region, dis- 
patched forthwith, would catch the ‘290’ before she had 
wrought the designed havoc. Such vessels should be 
commanded by picked men with orders to sink the ‘290’ 
or else sink with her.” 

Leigh ended his bold thesis with calling attention 
to that antiquated barbarism by which Spain, Mexico, 
Russia and the United States had refused to abolish 
all privateering at the conference of Paris in 1856. 

“War vessel, or privateer, fighter or sea racer, this 
‘290’ will do us more harm if she is ably handled, than 
a dozen indecisive bloody exchanges of dead men, like 


SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 


Ill 


the battle of Shiloh. In the one case the South ulti- 
mately drops from exhaustion, in the other, our loss is 
great, and the wreck of our commerce will be perma- 
nent. 

In an agony of sullen mental revolt, Jasper Leigh 
went about his duties, as the heavy Tuscarora lum- 
bered along the coasts of Spain and Portugal, standing 
off the Bay of Biscay, and pointing towards St. 
George’s channel. “My God, it is not in the ‘roaring 
forties/ that this half-equipped sea racer will be fitted 
out for war. She will not refuge where every shore 
sympathizer, every passing vessel can report her dan- 
gerous presence. The ‘290’ will not drift back to Eng- 
land to be impounded !” 

Everett Morton’s first letter at Gibraltar had in- 
formed him of Earl Russell’s grave assurances that 
“this sort of thing would not occur again,” and of the 
fact that the “290” had vanished as completely as if 
she had dived into the Maelstrom ! 

A profound Pecksniffian regret seemed to hover 
over all the English official circles, but two weeks after 
leaving Gibraltar, Leigh learned of the scattering of 
our butchered forces at the Second Bull Run, and the 
forcing out of a new levy, in all, of six hundred thou- 
sand more men, to be the prey of the “jack-knife gen- 
erals” of the Washington ring. 

That the victorious Lee, was then ready to invade 
Maryland, and the fierce Bragg to overrun Kentucky, 
plunged Jasper Leigh in a deep despondency. 

“All this puts my Felicie farther from me,” he 
mourned. “Is there any constancy in woman? If so, 
she, poor girl, must find that hidden jewel. What can 
I bring to her save sorrow and the social ostracism of 
a life. These are the dark days, and, God knows, the 
times which try men’s souls.” 

But, single hearted, he forced his ship up to the high- 
est degree of efficiency, panting for the hour when the 
eight inch Dahlgrens of the Tuscarora should bellow 
their hoarse messages of hate to the flying “290.” 
And the great warship was sailed away from her ene- 
my by a stubborn commander, a man of many pet 
theories. 


II 2 SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 

While the fatuous Captain of the T us car or a, box- 
hauled around the middle latitudes, not eight hundred 
miles away, in a smooth sunny cove of Terceira, the 
still nameless “290” lay well covered by the guns of the 
heavy fortifications of Angra. No flag flew as yet at 
her mizzen, no sentinels paced her still bloodless decks, 
and, the ring of the workmen’s hammers still waked 
the dreamy silence. 

Grave-faced strangers arriving from Portugal 
showered all possible comforts on the eager toilers, 
there was no lack of money in the hands of the local 
magnates, — the Governor and Bishop of the Azores 
offered every facility, and a large quantity of ship 
stores and fittings was soon rushed over from Libson 
in the original English cases. 

It was the thirteenth of August when the beautiful 
“290” glided peacefully into Terceira, having been 
hidden for an eventful week in Moelfra Bay, Anglesey, 
Wales, where two-hundred skilled workmen had toiled 
night and day to complete the graceful cruiser, after 
her runaway bridal .trip, with the winds and waves. 
There she was ballasted for a sea-voyage in safety. 
Strange drowsiness of the British Lion, in those ante- 
cable days, — when the excited press reporters weie all 
conning every European port for news of this strange 
steamer, which first ploughed the sea with neither 
ballast, papers, cargo, legal crew, officers, owners, nor 
even a flag. Property of the Messrs. Lairds, ‘‘To 
order, shop number 290” was the only proper descrip- 
tion of the beautiful craft which had behaved so su- 
perbly on her dangerous voyage, her sans ceremonie 
honeymoon with Neptune. 

When old Vanderberg of Bruges discovered the old 
Phoenician marine station of the Azores, he found 
them uninhabited, the only sign of human dominion 
being the Phoenician coins plentifully found at Corvo. 

Bianco the Venetian, in 1436, chartered the nine 
islands, which were soon grasped by the Portugese 
and given later to a Burgundian Duchess and settled by 
the Flemish. That still unexplained master genius 
Columbus, soon grasped their value, though the 
“Hawk” islands had no good harbor. 


SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 113 

But the acute Maryland lad, born in 1810, the man 
who joined the old Lexington as a middy in ’28, had 
learned the value of the Azores long before he reached 
the silver leaves of the Commander in ’55. 

Student, navigator and scholar, publicist and savant, 
Raphael Semmes’ well-stored mind was worthy of the 
ermine offered to him by his adopted state of Alabama, 
in the post bellum days, and the chair of moral philoso- 
phy into which the great sailor retired after his unique 
and history-making career. His sons have all inherited 
his great talents. He knew well the abundance of 
fresh supplies, of cheap labor and of naval stores, in 
this volcanic group, and the dozen short ways out of 
any sudden dilemma. 

For, the African Coast, the Canaries, and Cape 
Verde groups, gave him the most abundant opportu- 
nities for the refuge or even concealment of the as yet 
crippled sea hawk. Beef, wine, oil, stores, and supplies 
for a good voyage, had been gathered by discreet 
agents, together with large reserves of coal, long be- 
fore the Agrippina and the Bahama steamed into 
Terceira, a week after the “290’s” debut. 

There was no local gossip in Terceira, where the 
outgoing mails were judiciously fingered to see that 
no local emissary of “Abe” Lincoln was secretly 
watching the bursting of the chrysalis, and the evolu- 
tion of the scourge of the seas, the undisputed terror of 
the ocean for two long years. 

Nonplussed and gaping, the European agents of 
the United States filled uselessly many reams of blue 
dispatch paper with their vain conjectures, while the 
Kearsarge and Tuscarora , within three days’ steam, 
groped blindly around for the missing “290.” 

And so, 500 willing hands toiled till the armament, 
coal and stores were transferred from the Agrippina, 
and the trim steam sloop sank lower, judiciously bal- 
anced to her just immersion both for speed and safety. 

With an adroit caution, the crew of eighty men and 
the score of officers on the Bahama, w r ere all concealed, 
until on the 24th of August, ’62, the “290” stood 
proudly out to sea, followed bv the Bahama. 

Far out of the local jurisdiction of Portugal, the 


1 14 SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 

graceful cruiser was slowed down on this sunny day. 
The transfer of the workmen was effected, the depart- 
ing Pilot Anstruther took charge of all the En£ iish 
mails, and three sober looking civilians wrung the hand 
of Raphael Semmes. 

The Agrippina had taken on a previously ordered 
“export cargo,” and then, she churned away homeward. 

The Bahama was dropping down in the distance, 
when the Ex-secretary of the U. S. Light House 
Board, later, the daring Captain of the Sumter, called 
all hands aft. 

Clad in the Confederate Naval uniform, surrounded 
with the belted knights of his official staff, Captain 
Semmes solemnly read his Confederate commission as 
Post Captain in the Southern Navy, mustered his sail- 
ors into the Confederate Service, and impressively 
named the “290” the Alabama, and while the impro- 
vised band played “Dixie,” he defiantly ran up the 
Stars and Bars, destined only to go down later with the 
saucy ship. 

It was a supreme moment for Master Henri Ville- 
roi, who, girded with the sword returned by Jasper 
Leigh, excitedly cried out : “Hurrah for Southern 
Rights !” as Captain Semmes laid her first course and 
simply said : “Take your ship, Mr. Kells !” 

In the Confederate colony at Paris, Felicie Villeroi, 
weeping in her loneliness, followed with all a woman’s 
tenderness, two gallant foemen, both dear to her, the 
bright hearted impassioned boy now conning the Ala- 
bama's compass, as she swept swiftly out, seaward, 
like a fierce hungry cormorant, and the stern, unhappy 
man, who urged the blue jackets of the Tuscarora on 
to their perfunctory battery practice. 

And both the friendly foes on the sea both dreamed, 
that night, of Felicie’s bright eyes, — the one, with all 
the Villeroi family pride, — the other, with the yearning 
devotion of the lover whose heart was under the proud 
Louisiana girl’s slender feet. 

But few of the English gunners, bought over with 
treble wages, refused to enter the service of the war 
vessel, which was destined never to enter a Confederate 


SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 1 15 


port, though her guns echoed, on January 11, ’63, with- 
in the sweep of Galveston’s lights. 

In the cabin of the newly babtized Alabama, that 
first night, Raphael Semmes, surrounded with every 
form of sea lore, every known chart, the unwitting gifts 
of the U. S. Government, dreamed of a career which 
was to make the Alabama famous as long as keels 
plough the waves. 

The few days following the departure from Terceira, 
were given up to licking the alien crew into fighting 
shape, and knotting up a stern discipline. 

But eight thirty-two pounders were as yet mounted, 
four ports being still gunless, and the pivot traverses 
were awaiting the eight-inch Blakely, which later sent 
its shell into the stern post of the Kearsarge — that one 
luckless exploded shell, whose detonation would have 
sent Captain Winslow’s victorious boat to the bottom 
of the channel and covered the United States with a 
pall of shame. 

On September 5th, under the British flag, the dash- 
ing cruiser crept up to its first captive. 

When the flames lit up the rolling bronzed seas and 
a terrified Yankee crew gazed in astonishment at the 
armed deck of the new sea scourge, then Henri Villeroi 
saw at a glance the desperate policy of the fearless and 
indomitable Semmes. 

Eleven days later, the middle Atlantic was filled with 
drifting and blackened hulks, the Alabama had been 
crammed with both spoil of war and private plunder, 
one or two of the released prizes were carrying hun- 
dreds of helpless Yankee sailors away to inhospitable 
shores, and a wave of mad resentment swept westward 
to alarm the bewildered officials of the Navy Depart- 
ment at Washington. 

The pretty bar maid at Liverpool read her gunner 
lover’s letter, brought home by the pilot,' with delight, 
just when Assistant Secretary Fox called up Jasper 
Leigh’s urgent dispatch. 

While Ministers Adams and Dayton poured their 
urgent dispatches upon the saturnine Seward, Fox 
groaned in despair : “Leigh was right. I should have 
given him a ship of his own. But, the Vanderbilt, a 


Il6 SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 

patriot’s gift, must soon chase this corsair down. And 
Leigh shall have his chance, now.” 

As the reports of gloomy disaster came flooding in 
from our armies, the northern press howled “pirate” 
and foolishly abused the bold Semmes as a common 
thief. 

A dozen lumbering nine-knot boats were soon hur- 
ried off to the four quarters of the globe, with orders 
to relentlessly “run down” a fourteen-knot cruiser, then 
the queen of the seas, when pushed, going up easily 
to seventeen knots speed. 

Terror, shame and anger filled the northern ports, 
a deeper sorrow burned in Lincoln’s haggard eyes, 
and marine insurance leaped up at once to a prohibi- 
tory figure. 

Since the awful humiliation of the Merrimac fight in 
Hampton roads, no such staggering blow had been 
dealt the Union, under whose sadly borne flags, over 
twelve hundred vessels were now afloat. 

Semmes seemed to rule the whole seas ! 

Poor love-tortured Felicie Villeroi ! Cooped up in 
the gilded salons of Paris, her fluttering heart filled 
with pride in General Villeroi’s dauntless career in the 
west, timidly rejoicing in Henri Villeroi’s triumphant 
letters sent ashore by a friendly British cruiser, she 
turned her head away from the French gallants, from 
the fierce gray-eyed Southern diplomats, the few dar- 
ing officers of the Confederate secret-service, to hide 
her darling secret from Mrs. Slidell and from the de- 
voted Mrs. Preston, now bent on a brilliant marriage 
for the Star of the Lower Coast. 

Resting on her gentle bosom was Jasper Leigh’s 
last letter, in which, the absent ruler of her maiden 
dreams, pledged his manly faith until death. 

“Across the lines, my own darling,” he wrote, “my 
heart goes out to you, in love and faith. For, if you 
are but true to the election of your own heart, the day 
will come when these war flags will all be furled. Your 
love will protect me — my honor will not permit me to 
give you the story of my wanderings, but your sealed 
letters to the Navy Department, will always reach me. 
Direct them to the care of the Uniter* States Dispatch 


SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 117 

Agent at London, who distributes all the fleet 
mails.” 

It was a month after the Alabama's first baleful 
swoop, she was already the terror of the seas, when 
Leigh, as the Tuscarora blundered into Ferrol, for 
orders, received Felicie’s renewed pledge of an eternal 
constancy. 

“Thank God that you are not at sea the Louis- 
ianian beauty wrote, “for, Henry is now on the Ala- 
bama, and this desperate Captain Semmes is going to 
run her over and burn ships in the very sight of New 
York. I have your loving pledge, and I thank God 
that our Henri can never be opposed to you, busied 
as you are in your home duties.” 

Leigh ground his teeth in rage, little knowing then 
that the vulgar lack of coal alone, at last forcibly dis- 
suaded Semmes from lighting the marine bonfires, 
later audaciously kindled by the desperate Tallahassee, 
within actual visual range of Sandy Hook. 

But while Leigh, with all a lover’s fond subterfuges, 
sent his letters to Dispatch Agent Stevens to be en- 
closed in canceled New York envelopes, the Alabama, 
her pathway lit up with blazing ships, boldly steered 
across the Atlantic and threaded the well known chan- 
nels of the Spanish Main. It was a deed worthy of 
Sir Francis Drake or Morgan! 

A world, in mingled amazement and admiration, 
tempered with timid depreciation, saw the United 
States writhe helplessly under the disappearance of 
its unprotected commerce, from the seas. 

Tumbling over each other in eagerness, the purse- 
proud northern ship owners began to recall, divert, lay 
up, or sell their idle vessels. 

American ships soon lay rotting in every home and 
foreign harbor, and Captain Semmes proceeded to 
make his unequaled collection of chronometers, repre- 
senting in two years, the spoil of sixty-five destroyed 
ships, which with their cargoes were worth ten mil- 
lions of dollars. 

Chafing with a mad desire for revenge and a fair 
fight, Jasper Leigh, was lifted to a new mental exalta- 
tion when finally ordered at Bordeaux, to report at 


Il8 SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 

once to the Secretary of the Navy at the Brooklyn 
Navy Yard for assignment to the Vanderbilt. 

An hour later, left the ship, sending his luggage on 
to Havre direct. 

He crowded down the exaltation in his heart, when 
the Captain of the Tascarora stolidly said: “You will 
go via Paris and deliver these dispatches and the 
ship’s mail to Minister Dayton personally. Here are 
your orders so as to draw a dispatch bearer’s travel ex- 
penses home. You will conceal your rank and only 
travel in civilian dress to New York City, as that 
damned Alabama which seems to be everywhere and 
no where at once, may overhaul you and might take 
you out as a prisoner. Dayton will undoubtedly give 
you dispatches. Be secret and — silent ! 

“Strange fellow, that,” mused Captain Dalrymple. 
“Went off without a word. Good officer, though.” 

And a dancing light shone in Leigh’s eyes as he sent 
his first dispatch, when ashore, to Everett Morton: 
“Meet me at the Hotel Athenee; arrive to-morrow 
morning.” 

The signature Leigh electrified the young diplomat, 
whose secret functions were concealed most carefully 
from tout Paris. 

“I must make Mademoiselle Felicie Villeroi aware 
of this at once,” mused the graceful Morton, “for they 
guard her as the apples of the Hesperides. To outwit 
Madame Slidell and the graceful Mrs. Preston, is a 
social triumph, and so, I fancy, I must ask my aunt, 
Mrs. Van Reynegom to invite Miss Villeroi to break- 
fast to-morrow, at her villa in Neuilly. One glimpse 
of Leigh’s well known face and the whole Confederate 
body-guard would attack him. A duel, an esclandre, 
or the social deportation of this charming girl would 
soon follow.” 

Whereat, Everett Morton, in his most careful toilet, 
leisurely made his way to Mrs. Preston’s. 

Sustaining his assumed character of a mere social 
dilettante, and a recognized secret Southern sym- 
pathizer, young Morton walked Paris with his life in 
his hand, among the fiery devotees of slavery, the local 
junta of the “Stars and Bars.” 


SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. H9 

As he drove away from the residence on the Champs 
Elysee, Felicie Villeroi followed him in thought, with 
love shining in her eyes. 

“Now, for my aunt!” cheerfully cried Morton, while 
on the Paris bound train, Jasper Leigh could only hear 
the wheels clicking “Felicie! Felicie!” 


CHAPTER IX. 

ON “the vanderrilt.” 

When Commander Leigh descended from the rail- 
way carriage in Paris, at the Gare du Midi he was 
keenly on the alert. 

Morton’s letters and Captain Dalrymple’s cautions 
recalled the swarm of Confederate Agents, both civil 
and under commission, who were now eager courtiers 
of the mock Second Empire. 

Leigh recognized the gray dome of the Panthenon, 
the golden cupola of the Invalides, the vast bulk of 
Notre Dame, the overhanging convent of the Sacre 
Coeur, and the splendid pile of the Louvre and Tui- 
leries. 

His heart was far heavier than when a light-hearted 
middy, on his first cruise, he had stolen into Le Jardin 
Mabille or the Bullier for a peep at the under world. 

A light touch on the arm recalled him. With a 
meaning gesture of silence, Everett Morton led the 
way to a closed carriage. 

“Your luggage?” he whispered. 

“This portmanteau is all,” said Leigh. “Everything 
else has gone on to our Navy Agent at Havre.” 

As the carriage rolled away, Leigh said : “Whither- 
wards now?” 

“To Mr. Dayton’s private residence first on the 
Avenue de lTmperatrice,” rejoined Morton. “Your 
face must not be seen here. The Confederacy has 
largely reinforced both its secret service and its open 
representation. Every port on the Atlantic coast is 
swarming with rebel spies, blockade runners’ agents, 


120 SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 

cotton brokers, and financial Southern refugees. As 
usual, the women are the most dangerous and the light 
minded Eugenie de Monti jo is fooled to the* top of 
her. She controls this impassive son of a Dutch Ad- 
miral, who now wears the pinchbeck diadem of the 
Empire, — Napoleon the Little. The splendid talents 
of Mason and Slidell have completely fascinated her. 
They promise her rich Mexico, the payment of the 
Mexican French debt, the re-establishment of the 
Church of Mexico, and also the return of its vast for- 
feited domains. The brilliant Southern women have 
swept her off her feet and, the whole social field here is 
ruled by the beauties of the red, white and red. So 
open, so shameless, is the Imperial leaning to the 
“Stars and Bars,” that Minister Dayton even fears for 
the sanctity of the seals of our official dispatch bags. 
He has an important mail and secret dispatches 
for you to convey to New York. You are to take the 
steamer to-morrow at Havre, and so he has engaged 
a double stateroom, the largest, wherein you will have 
John Hartley as your guard. He goes over to see 
Assistant Secretary Fox. Hartley has just made a 
secret tour of every seaport of Europe, leaving out the 
Baltic and Mediterranean. He has a chart of the whole 
spy system of the Confederacy. Every ship chandler, 
sailor crimp, port official and telegraph and mail di- 
rector, who can be bribed, is now either aiding the 
South, forwarding mails, spreading false news of the 
Alabama , or actively helping blockade running and 
the introduction of military supplies.” 

“Tell me,” suddenly cried Leigh, grasping Morton's 
hands. “Must I leave Paris without seeing Felicie? 
I shall go mad !” 

“I will take you later from Dayton’s house to my 
aunt, Mrs. Van Reynegom. There, after breakfast, 
I will produce an apparition that will startle you. Oh, 
you, of little faith. But, you must give me your word 
of honor not to show your face outside my aunt’s door, 
thereafter, till I take you to-night to the Gare Saint 
Lazare. You must be hidden on the ship as a civilian, 
in the stateroom as ‘Mr. Charles Mason,’ when Jack 
Hartley arirves. We send down a guard to Havre 


SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 


I 2 I 


with the mails. Mr. Dayton will give you all the dis- 
patches. to-day.” 

“How did you do this?” wonderingly asked Leigh. 

“Telegrams received from that old slow trot Dal- 
rymple told of your detail. I did the rest.” 

“You are a genius,” admiringly cried Leigh. 

“Ah,” sighed Morton. “My aunt and myself are 
vainly trying to stem the tide of treason and treachery 
here. We are both within the lines of the “Southern 
Circle,” for my dead uncle’s brother married a Petti- 
grew of South Carolina, and so, Aunt Mildred, is re- 
ceived through ante-bellum social friendships.” 

“The situation at home?” eagerly demanded Leigh. 

“It is the low tide,” sadly replied Morton. “The 
Army of the Potomac, torn to pieces, has been thrown 
back at McClellan’s head ! It is almost in mutiny. 
Fitz John Porter is blamed for Pope’s failure. Lin- 
coln is now attacking slavery. The slaves of all rebels 
are to be confiscated, their landed property also, — ne- 
groes are being enlisted into our service, slavery abol- 
ished in the District of Columbia, and Lee and Bragg 
are about to ravage Maryland and Kentucky. Grant’s 
whole supplies have been destroyed at Holly Springs, 
by Van Dorn and Forrest, and, Vicksburg and Port 
Hudson cannot be reduced for another year. All is 
dark ! The hour of Fate has sounded, but, the Man of 
Destiny has not yet appeared.” 

Half an hour later, Leigh had received the brief 
injunctions of Minister Dayton, and receipted for the 
dispatches carefully packed in a well secured valise 
by Morton. 

“Either you or Hartley must be always in that state- 
room,” said Mr. Dayton. He has sent me service 
funds and arms for both of you. You are to conceal 
your true characters, and should the French steamer be 
searched by the Alabama , in return for our mad folly 
of the Trent, Hartley has weights with which to sink 
all the mail and the dispatches. Louis Napoleon would 
gladly wink at the right of search exercised by 
Semmes. The Alabama is now somewhere between 
here and New York, and Semmes has the whole Antil- 
les and the South American as well as Mexican ports 


122 SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 

now crowded with his friends. He can get coal, re- 
pairs, supplies and all official aid, where our cruisers 
are refused even water. Alas, we are to-day the Ish- 
mael of nations.” 

“Why?” sadly asked Leigh. 

“Because,” gravely replied Minister Dayton, “Cot- 
ton is King after all. Look at starving Lancashire, — 
with its fifteen hundred idle factories — its half million 
haggard operatives, all facing an unending misery. 
England is irresistibly drawn to a secret sympathy 
with Davis’ dark Confederacy. Look at the price of 
cotton. In sixty — ten cents ; in sixty-one — twelve 
cents, for there was a year’s stock on hand ; this year, 
sixty cents; next year, eighty; in sixty-four, ninety! 
By that time, England’s operatives, if not aided, will 
be all starved to death.” 

“Now go, my young friend, I have urged your pro- 
motion. Be vigilant, and may God bless you. Re- 
member, you are to be a civilian till you reach the 
Brooklyn Navy Yard. You might be assassinated or 
bullied into a duel or an affray. Your life belongs to 
your country, and I hope that you may see the Alabama 
sing after her surrender. But, mark me, Semmes will 
fight her to the last plank. History will stamp 
Raphael Semmes as the father of the new partisan 
naval warfare, a great publicist, a daring commander, 
and one who has shaken all the old creeds. Everett 
Morton will personally conduct you to Havre, and not 
lose sight of you, till Hartley joins you. May we meet 
in happier times !” 

“And now,” whispered Morton slyly, “I know that 
you are ready for your breakfast.” 

Leigh’s face crimsoned as they drove toward the 
beautiful bowered villa of Neuilly, where the graceful 
apparition was now vainly counting the minutes. 

“Can you command your tell-tale feelings ?” serenely 
asked Everett Morton. “Remember that Mildred Van 
Reynegom knows nothing of your previous condition 
of servitude as regards Miss Felicie Villeroi. I am 
not to leave you, you know, for a moment,” mischiev- 
ously added Morton, pointing to their joint charge, the 
precious dispatches. 


SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 1 23 


“I’ll do the best I can,” muttered Leigh, as he 
avoided Morton’s searching glances. 

With a stately step and an unusual pallor, “Mr. 
Charles Mason” entered the hail of Madame Van Rey- 
negom’s dainty villa. 

“D — n these civilian toggeries and this unromantic 
alias!” muttered the young officer, who felt all the 
deadening effect of his false position. 

“Remember the service, the flag, the country!” 
whispered Morton. “Even this Queen of Hearts must 
not know of your trust, whence you came or your 
homeward pathway.” 

“Confound all duplicity,” groaned Leigh. “But, you 
are right.” 

The Northern widow’s welcome to “Mr. Charles 
Mason” was gracefully unconstrained, and then, his 
whole soul in his eyes, Leigh turned to the waiting 
beauty, who flashed upon him one glance of unutter- 
able tenderness. 

Morton had thoughtfully prepared Miss Villeroi 
both for the “alias” and the “mufti.” 

The little quartette was soon thoroughly at ease, 
Morton’s old college senior entering frankly into the 
petty chat of the moment, while his eyes feasted upon 
the glowing beauty of the loving girl into whose eyes 
a wistful sadness had stolen, in these long months of 
expatriation. The war and its horrors was skilfully 
tabooed, and Leigh breathlessly awaited the closing of 
a meal to him as yet the feast of the Barmecides. 

It was only when “Mr. Mason’s” impending depart- 
ure for America was announced, that Mrs. Van Reyne- 
gom retired to prepare the little avalanche of packages, 
whose safe conduct to New York, Mr. Mason so 
kindly guaranteed. 

And then Everett Morton led Leigh away to the 
shaded library. “I shall leave you here in charge of 
the dispatches,” whispered Morton, while I prepare 
my own home letters. I will send some one to watch 
over them with you.” 

There was the faint rustling of a woman’s dress, a 
timid hand in the door latch, and in a speechless trans- 


124 SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 

port, Felicie Villeroi was soon clasped to her lover’s 
breast. 

Without, in the garden, a full-throated bird, hidden 
in a tree, was singing merrily, as the lovers sat tranced 
in “the delight of happy laughter, the delight of low 
replies.” 

Leigh found means to explain the marvel of his 
sudden presence in a secret expedition “to inspect cer- 
tain forms of ordnance,” and as the minutes flew away, 
on golden wings, their hearts went out to each other 
in the pledge of a life-long faith. 

“But, Jasper,” sadly said Felecie, when the past had 
been all canvassed, “I have a struggle before me which 
will try our hearts to the uttermost. The hand of the 
spoiler is laid upon Le Bocage and La Belle Etoile, 
even Uncle Pierre’s estate in New Orleans, has been 
legally attacked by the Freedmen’s Bureau and Bureau 
of Confiscated and Abandoned Lands. Poverty stares 
Henri and myself in the face. And, General Villeroi, 
urged on by Madame Levert, is now forcing upon me 
a choice of two marriages, which in either alternative, 
means a life-long sorrow or else the ostracism of every 
friend and the rupture of every tie in life.” 

“Let me read Armytage’s letter, darling,” hastily 
said Leigh, “and then, we will lay out our campaign. 
For you are my life; you shall be mine, in spite of the 
horrible present, and God alone knows the uncertain 
future.” 

The Surgeon’s twenty pages only expressed in 
greater detail the conspiracy between the vulture Vol- 
unteer Quartermasters, the harpies of the Freedmen’s 
Bureau, and some vile Jew cotton traders to force the 
condemnation and buying in of the two estates. 

T am holding them off for a year, on our unexpired 
lease of the two plantations,” wrote the brave old 
Surgeon, “but unless you can help me now, Jasper, the 
estate of Judge Pierre will be lost. Its condemnation 
is already advertised. It is a million dollars worth 
of the best realty in New Orleans. The law courts 
are all closed, and so, I have had my wife file a claim 
at Headquarters as guardian ad litem of Felicie Vil- 
leroi, a minor and absent heir. Thank God, under the 


SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 




old French Code here, Felicie is not of full legal age 
until twenty-five. I have obtained a temporary stay. 
Hasten to my aid, Jasper, for we cannot bring Fek ie 
back to claim her undoubted rights. As next of kin, 
Henri can not share, by his treasonable status, an ex- 
naval officer now in arms against us. Felicie being 
innocent of treason, could save this estate, but Gen- 
eral Villeroi has written a fiery letter of eternal adieu 
to my beloved Elise for marrying a damned Yankee! 
She is under the ban. Your influence with Assistant 
Secretary Fox alone can save the estates. Let this be 
your holy labor of love on receipt of this.” 

“Thank God, I can save you, darling,” cried Jasper, 
“and you can hold Henri’s share for him. General 
Buckner’s vast propert; in Chicago is being held by a 
Union brother-in-law, in the same way.” 

“Alas, Jasper!” faltered Felicie, her head dropping 
on his breast, in a flood of tears. “I am like the 
scorpion girt with fire. General Villeroi writes me by 
every mail from Mobile, Charleston or Wilmington. 
He knows that I am powerless. I have no income 
from these imperiled possessions. I am living here 
on his bounty, Mrs. Senator Preston using the drafts 
sent against my uncle’s own funds on deposit here. 
Some mad frenzy against all things northern, rankles 
in the General’s heart. I am beset with schemers. 
Madame Slidell urges me to marry the Marquis del 
Valle, a charming Parisian intimate of their family. 

I have been forced to avoid her, while Mrs. Preston 
throws me daily in the company of Ranald Mason, a 
gallant Virginian, recently arrived from California, an 
attache, with his distant relative. If he would not 
speak of love, he could greatly aid me, but he is a pas- 
sionate young fellow, and very strange. Harassed and 
powerless, now comes General Villeroi’s last plan, the 
sly work of Madame Levert. I must consent to marry 
General Frank Pendleton, of Kentucky, who is coming 
over here on the first blockade runner. Retired from 
the field by desperate wounds, he has been given a per 
manent secret mission here of a military nature. 

“Utterly unobjectionable, a charming man of high 
rank and family, I can give my Uncle no adequate 


126 SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 

reason to repulse him. And Jasper,” she sobbed, 
“ General Villeroi threatens, absolutely declares, he will 
cut off my support, unless I receive Frank Pendleton 
as my accepted suitor. Brotherless, fatherless and 
motherless, penniless, a stranger in a stranger land, 
what can I do?” 

The veins on Jasper Leigh’s forehead swelled out 
like whipcord. “Listen,” he gravely answered. “My 
duty takes me away from you to-night. I will not see 
you hunted to desperation. Let Armytage and myself 
be your bankers. You must be freed from this sale of a 
soul ! I know well that Aristide Villeroi will never con- 
sent to our marriage unless brought to his senses by 
some crowning misfortune. Yet nothing but death 
shall part us. I must protect you !” 

“What do you mean, Jasper?” cried the proud 
Southern girl. 

“Let me be a brother only, till this cruel war is over. 
I release you from all your pledges, so that I may play, 
only a brother’s part.” 

“What would you do?” faltered Felicie, her tearful 
eyes fixed upon his gloomy face. 

“My mother left me last year two hundred and fifty 
thousand dollars in six per cent, securities,” said the 
anxious lover. “They are now lying in Elmira, the in- 
come for two years is untouched. I shall transfer one- 
half of this money to Munroe and Company’s bank, 
here, in your name, and I will deposit to-day a cheque, 
for the first year’s income, seven thousand five hundred 
dollars. You are of disposing age, twenty-one ! Mrs. 
Van Reynegom will be your counsellor. This makes 
you independent of all brutality. Remember, contre la 
force, il riy a pas de resistance.” 

“Never!” sobbed Felicie. “Never. I cannot be 
your pensioner.” 

“Very good,” coolly said Leigh, “I shall now go di- 
rectly to Mrs. Van Reynegom and tell her all. I shall 
make the deposit, send on- the securities to Morton and 
his aunt, as your trustees, and, to-day I will make my 
will and leave you the other half, and also my mansion 
in Elmira. Choose now, between all or only a half! 


SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 


127 


You dare not refuse me before Morton and his lovely 
kinswoman.” 

In half an hour Jasper Leigh had won the victory. 
“Don’t you see, darling,” he said, gazing fondly at her 
face, beautiful in its April smiles and tears, “you can 
easily avoid both this stranger Ranald Mason and the 
aristocratic Del Valle here, by an impartial courtesy 
and a woman’s privilege. As for General Pendleton, 
tell him frankly that your affections are engaged. He 
is the soul of honor, a chivalric Kentuckian, and he 
will never ask to whom? With this ready money you 
are independent of General Villeroi’s sad fanaticism ; 
let Elise Armytage be your own confidant. Henri will 
stand by us. As for the money obligation, I will 
charge you full interest, from the future revenues of 
Le Bocage and La Belle Etoile. You must not refuse 
me. For, if you should, I will then force Elise Army- 
tage to be my agent. So, you see you cannot avoid me.” 

In a sweet alarm, lest her lover should be the sufferer 
by the discovery of a rebel alliance, Felicie Villeroi 
yielded. “You are right, Jasper. Only the power of 
independence will withstand General Villeroi’s iron 
will.” 

“And should he try to force matters?” said Jasper. 

“Then,” firmly said Felicie, “I could come to New 
York with Mrs. Reynegom. You will be in the north 
on your ordnance duty. A last resort will be to give 
you the right to protect me — as — your wife,” she whis- 
pered. “For neither of these three strangers shall ever 
lead me to the altar, and my only fear is to compromise 
your official standing.” 

She saw the wild hope in his eyes. A hasty mar- 
riage ! 

“To-day! Are you mad? It would at once disclose 
your presence ! A tragedy would follow. Trust me to 
the end of my days. Jasper, I will marry no man but 
you, God being my judge. If I did not love you be- 
yond all mere trammels of smaller souls, would I take 
your money, as a mortgage upon my honor ! It is be- 
cause I am your wife, in heart, now, that I borrow of 
y 0U — by your will — to be free of this humiliating de- 
pendence.” 


128 SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 

An hour later Everett Morton returned from Mun- 
roe’s bank with a cheque book, and a credit deposit of 
seven thousand five hundred dollars. 

“Let me have your signature for registry, Miss Vil- 
leroi,” calmly said Morton. “Commander Leigh has 
through me deposited your last remittance from La 
Belle Etoile, to your credit, and so, I am to be your 
man of business.” 

As the shades of evening fell, the heart happy Felicie 
again begged her lover to renew his oath to protect 
Henri Villeroi in any future rencontre. 

And then Jasper Leigh laughed merrily and long. 
“My poor darling! First, catch your hare!” he cried. 
“Your fiery cousin is on that daring will o’ the wisp, 
the Alabama , you know. She will probably wear out 
her engines before any eight-knot Yankee contract- 
built tub will overhaul the fifteen-knot corsair. I con- 
sider him the safest man in the Confederacy, for 
Raphael Semmes controls this winged Mercury of the 
seas, and the ball is not cast that can reach the Flying 
Dutchman of the Confederacy. You know how I love 
him for your sake and for his own. The saucy young 
rebel shall share my last crust, if he ever needs it !” 

The quick, sharp pang of parting came when Mrs. 
Preston’s carriage arrived to convey Miss Villeroi 
homeward. 

Everett Morton at last forced the clinging lovers 
apart. “Discovery now means only a lifelong wretch- 
edness for us all. Leigh, be a man ! I will guard her 
with my life, for you — for the sake of your gallant 
manhood. In my aunt, she will find a mother, when 
she chooses to speak.” 

“Jasper,” sobbed the Louisianian beauty, “I am 
yours in the sight of God and man from this moment.” 

“And I, will yet be best man, and see this pledge 
sealed at the altar!” whispered Morton, as he turned 
his moistened eyes away from the agony of parting. 

His head buried in his hands, Leigh lingered in the 
library until the warm-hearted Morton returned. 

“My aunt has driven home with Miss Felicie,” 
gravely said the diplomat “Trust to her; she has a 


SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 1 29 


heart of gold and an intellect as bright as any dia- 
mond.” 

“Here!” cried Leigh. “Aid me to make my will 
now. As a Legation attache you can certify it — go 
and get me two witnesses here. You can put the Lega- 
tion seal on it later and deposit il at Munroe’s Bank 
here to her order and then give Miss Villeroi the re- 
ceipt as of a valuable document, entrusted to her care 
by me.” 

In half an hour, Commander Leigh had placed 
Felicie Villeroi safely beyond all the storms of fortune. 

“TO send you the duplicate receipt for the securi- 
ties, old man,” lightly said Jasper Leigh, when he had 
achieved his task. “Here is a letter to my solicitors, 
Jarvis and Houghton of Elmira. Now if I stop a 
rebel bullet, I will have the satisfaction of knowing 
that my money has done some good at any rate !” 

“You will now take a good sleep till ten o’clock,” 
authoritatively said Morton, “At eleven, we leave here 
to take the midnight train, and I am not to lose you 
from sight till you are on the mail steamer.” 

“There is but one thing left for you to do,” sud- 
denly cried Leigh. “Here is a check for five hundred 
francs. I wish Felicie to have a basket of roses every 
day till she gets my first letter from New York. And 
this other check for five thousand francs you will invest 
in a solitaire diamond ring inscribed with both our ini- 
tials and this date. Give it to her with the letter which 
I will write from Havre.” 

Everett Morton bowed l.'.s assent and gravely said: 
“Now, old man, sleep ! I am the doctor here. Leave 
her to me. I’ve learned something about a noble 
womanhood to-day.” 

In the cheerless fog of a raw September morning, 
Jasper Leigh clambered up the companion way of the 
huge liner at Havre. 

“Now, Sir, I’m your bodyguard till Jack Hartley 
comes. After that,” cheerily cried Morton, “I don’t 
want to see you till you’ve sunk the Alabama with 
your new racer, the Vanderbilt. In the far future I 
can hear the echo of wedding bells. That girl will 
wait for you, Confederacy or no Confederacy. She 


I30 SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 

is true blue and of the stuff that angels are compound- 
ed of.” To which neat compliment, Jasper Leigh 
smiled a faint assent, for his heart was heavy as lead 
within him. 

That evening, Miss Villeroi declined attending a 
great ball at the Tuileries, for, with her eyes fixed on 
a superb basket of roses, she thought over the words 
of Leigh’s last letter. 

“Nature’s nobleman,” she proudly thought. “There 
is no north, south, east or west in the broad domain 
of Love !” 

Before Leigh’s steamer had turned the Lizard, Miss 
Villeroi had sought a dozen hidingplaces for her mag- 
nificent ring, in the choice of which Morton's classic 
taste was conspiciously displayed. 

“I must wear it only, at night,” the blushing girl 
cried, and so Jasper Leigh’s love token only did half 
duty in these stormy days. 

Seated in the great cabin, piled with Jack Hartley’s 
mail, the two loyalists, alternated at meals, and closely 
watched the motley passengers. 

“Strange,” cried the bluff Jack, “this boat is crowd- 
ed with military adventurers, and while all the aristo- 
crats seek southern service, all the men of the people 
join the northern cause. It’s a good omen, for the peo- 
ple will at last prevail.” 

The friends rigidly abstained from all discussion, 
yet they gathered vast stores of general information 
from the careless tongues of the voyagers. All the 
reckless men and women of the world were now flock- 
ing to America to follow fortune’s rolling wheel, to 
gain gold or glean the aftermath of the general spolia- 
tion, north and south. 

Leigh found Hartley an enlightened cynic. “Don’t 
blame England,” he frankly said. “I’ve lived there for 
twenty years. The English to-day, like most mortals, 
only see their immediate advantage. Cotton they must 
have, they covet our rich carrying trade and the lucra- 
tive neutral dealings with both sides. The French 
really seek our downfall, as they wish to build up a 
Brummagem empire in Mexico. Louis Napoleon is 
both deep and crafty, and our government does well 


SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 131 

not to force quarrels now, over the illicit trade of 
France and England. We could not handle either of 
these great powers, busied as we now are. These 
straggling depredations will not effect the final result.” 

“Where is Semmes?” Leigh queried, as they neared 
New York. “I am going to hunt him with the Vander- 
bilt.” 

“I suppose they will send you to China after him,” 
laughed Hartley. 

Coldly avoided by the adventurous passengers, Jas- 
per Leigh and Jack Hartley were fiercely glared at in 
surprise when, on September twenty-fourth, a navy- 
yard tug ranged alongside the French mail steamer at 
the New York Quarantine Station and took off the 
two mysterious passengers with their heavy mail and 
the precious dispatches. 

“Secretary Fox is waiting for you at the Yard, Com- 
mander,” said a bright-eyed midshipman, as the tug 
drifted away from the hugh liner. “I am charged to 
bring all your luggage off as soon as the steamer 
docks. The Vanderbilt sails to-morrow, and you are 
to be her Executive Officer.” 

“Tell me of the Army!” breathlessly cried Leigh. 

“McClellan has driven Lee back into Virginia after 
two terrific battles at South Mountain and Antietam, 
the bloodiest of the war. The capital is safe and 
Rosecrans is bravely holding fierce old Bragg at bay.” 

“Thank God,” cried Jack Hartley. “Recognition for 
the Confederacy is now an impossibility. The tide 
has turned, though, it reached the low water mark !” 

“Captain Hartley,” ‘said the middy saluting, “I am 
to land you at the Battery.” He handed the gallant 
Jack an official letter. 

“I am to report to the Secretary of State for final 
reports, and then, join General Grant’s command,” 
cried Hartley. “I have asked for service with the 
Western troops. I go to the front!” 

Fifteen minutes later, the heart friends shook hands 
to meet no more until after the final total eclipse of 
Appomattox. 

On the Battery, crowds of hilarious soldiers were 
now lustily singing: 


132 SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 

“General McClellan is the man, 

“For, he fought the Battle of Antietam !” 

Busied with his fresh newspapers, Leigh read of 
the superb storming of South Mountain, of Hooker, 
Mansfield and Sumner, hurling even Stonewall Jack- 
son back, of the proud Lee’s being forced to beg 
that “permission to bury his dead” of the aroused 
McClellan, that same sad battlefield courtesy which he 
himself so coldly refused later, to Grant at Cold Har- 
bor. 

Even with A. P. Hill — old Ben Ewell, and the im- 
mortal Jackson, Lee had been signally defeated by 
McClellan, grandly catching up the fragments of a 
trebly defeated army. 

The Capital was now safe and Lincoln hastened his 
Emancipation Proclamation. Foreign nations were 
awed by McClellan’s staggering blow, and yet, a 
“grateful country,” long years later, allowed George 
Brinton McClellan, the man of Malvern Hill and An- 
tietam, to die — a neglected civilian ! But, by his lonely 
grave, Honor keeps her ceaseless watch, with Fame, a 
faithful sentinel, and his great-hearted native state has 
set his graceful effigy on high, in imperishable bronze, 
in that deathless trinity of McClellan, Meade and Rey- 
nolds ! 

An hour later, Commodore Merriam and Assistant 
Secretary Fox were in possession of. all Leigh’s dis- 
patches, the mails were soon hastened off by special 
messenger, and Felicie’s lover received his final sail- 
ing orders. 

“I am ready,” he said, “and yet, to-day, I must have 
for private affairs.” 

“Only till nine, this evening,” said Fox. “I have 
come here to dispatch this superb vessel, the gift of 
a patriot prince, Cornelius Vanderbilt’s offering to his 
country. You must have my verbal orders in case 
your captain should die.” 

“Can I ask one favor of you?” demanded the grave 
young Commander. 

“Anything!” replied Fox. “You have earned any 
concession.” 


SPECIAL ORDERS tfOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 1 33 

Then in burning words, Leigh told the great official 
of the dastardly plot to rob Felicie Villeroi of Le 
Bocage and La Belle Etoile, and the imperiled estate 
of Judge Pierre Villeroi. 

“Damned vultures !” shouted Fox. “I give you 
my pledge of honor that I will have orders sent down 
to General Butler and to the Naval Commander at 
New Orleans to indefinitely postpone these proceed- 
ings, till you can testify. Write instantly to Surgeon 
Armytage to notify me by personal letter of all that he 
wishes. Your young relative’s property shall be held 
sacred, under the flag!” 

And, then, the blushing Leigh fled away to New 
York, to finish his private affairs. First he sent the 
dispatches to Armytage, then hastened away to the 
Sub-Treasury, and last, telegraphed to have the securi- 
ties sent to Monroe’s Bank to be delivered in Paris to 
Miss Villeroi. 

“Thank God, they are powerless to coerce her now ! 
Money has its uses after all,” 

It was midnight, before the Assistant Secretary 
had concluded his directions to the stern-eyed sailor, 
by saying: “You will sail under sealed orders!” 

“The Vanderbilt is a good vessel?” queried Leigh. 

“Cost eight hundred thousand dollars,” briefly re- 
plied Fox. “The Commodore built her and the Ariel 
for his projected line to Havre. She is the swiftest 
thing afloat. We have strengthened her, put eight- 
inch Dahlgrens on her, and given her a ten-inch pivot 
gun. Her heavy shells will rip through the Alabama 
from side to side. Congress gives Vanderbilt a gold 
medal for this noble gift. You are to follow the 
sneaking Alabama to the ends of the earth !” 

“If the Vanderbilt is what you say she is, we will 
never sight the Alabama ” gloomily replied Leigh, 
“for Raphael Semmes will keep out of our way. His 
intelligence bureau is as adroit as the Florida wreckers 
with their false lights. Semmes will only take a fairly 
equal chance or else cut and run for it.” 

While the Secretary toiled at his secret dispatches, 
directing the fleet Vanderbilt towards Sierra Leone, 
the saucy Alabama was laying up cosily at a little 


134 SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 

sandy key below Jamaica, leisurely taking in coal, se- 
cretly conveyed there, and preparing for a mad dash 
towards Galveston. 

In the gray of the morning, the sleepless Fox pock- 
eted Leigh’s remarkably bulky letter to Everett Mor- 
ton and the hopeful dispatch to the anxious Armytage. 
The unhappy lover had left nothing unsaid to Felicie, 
and to the dear old Surgeon he transmitted Secretary 
Fox’s pledge of honor. “Remember, Robert,” wrote 
Leigh, “even your beloved wife is not to know of my 
provision for Felicie, nor of my chase of that young 
rover Henri. Save the estates, counteract General Vil- 
leroi’s matrimonial schemes, and something tells me 
that we will all yet meet at La Belle Etoile ! I will 
write you from every port, to the care of Secretary 
Fox, and Everett Morton will have my mail for Fe- 
licie. Both of you must act as Felicie’s letters suggest. 
If she keeps our brief Paris tryst a secret, then — you 
must never mention it.” 

At nine o’clock the Vanderbilt had a new Executive 
officer, Leigh having donned his uniform, laughed: 
“Now, good-bye, ‘Mr. Charles Mason,’ forever. Sword 
at side, I hope yet to see the smoke from Admiral 
Semmes’ flagship.” 

By noon, the superbly transformed steamer had sa- 
luted the departing Assistant Secretary, then sailing on 
a verbally ordered course, the swift Vanderbilt sped 
out into the offing, and while he was elated over the 
picked crew, the heavy armament, the dashing person- 
nel, — Commander Leigh groaned, thirty-six hours 
later, in despair, when Captain Worthington opened 
the sealed orders: “To Sierra Leone,” he gravely 
said, “We might as well steer up the Hudson, to Al- 
bany !” growled Leigh, as he watched the shores of 
Barnegat recede from sight. “ The devil surely fights 
for Raphael Semmes !” 

And so, began the long and fruitless cruise of nearly 
two years, in which the Vanderbilt roved from Rotter- 
dam to Singapore, from Cape of Good Hope to Cuba, 
while the dreaded scourge of the seas left a blazing 
wake over the ocean, and American commerce lay 
prostrate, 


SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 135 


CHAPTER X. 

AN ENCOUNTER IN PARIS. 

There was unmistakable rage and mortification on 
the face of Medical Director Armytage, U. S. Navy, 
as he sat upon the porch of La Belle Etoile on a balmy 
morning of early February, ’63. 

The great hospital settlement now spread along the 
shore of the Mississippi, and the worthy Surgeon 
found no quarrel with Fortune, for there were no 
shadows resting upon the face of his beloved consort. 

Madame Elise, fair as ever in her sunset beauty, had 
just finished reading a private letter of Lieutenant 
Henri Villeroi, Confederate States Navy, dated ten 
days previous at Havana. 

“God bless the boy ! Pm glad that the young mad 
cap is safe !” growled Armytage. “So this is the unex- 
plained disaster off Galveston, which all our authori- 
ties have so carefully concealed for three weeks. 
Semmes is a gallant devil. I must admit that. No 
man living but Hollins or Franklin Buchanan would 
have taken that risk. It’s a creditable showing, the 
last six months,” he growled. “The hideous butchery 
of Fredericksburg, blundering Burnside replaced by 
bullhead Hooker, Rosecrans and Bragg only have 
swopped graveyards again — Grant is foiled at Vicks- 
burg, and imbecility seems to reign on land and sea! 
For now, our navy seems as paralyzed as the Army, 
which the politicians are ruining just as fast as they 
can. Here is Semmes, with a mere wooden shell, de- 
fying our whole country. Swooping into the Carib- 
bean, he captures the Ariel , the sister ship of the Van- 
derbilt, a Pacific Mail Steamer, takes a hundred and 
fifty marines, a score of armv officers, a fortune in 
treasure, and a rifled eight-inch pivot gun, with all 
the arms, — thus capturing more armed combatants 
than his whole crew — this appears to be the crowning 
disgrace. But read me that letter again. This Hah 
(eras affair is shameful 1” 


136 SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 

And then with a genuine sorrow, Elise Armytage 
re-read Henri Villeroi’s story of how the Alabama had 
recklessly dashed into the outer Federal fleet off Gal- 
veston, within a day’s steam of fifty heavily armed 
United States vessels. 

“It was January eleventh,” wrote Henri, “when we 
swung out of a fog and hailed the Hatteras off Gal- 
veston. Our crew were already at quarters. AVhat 
ship is that?’ hailed the Yankee deck officer. ‘Her 
Majesty’s ship Petrel,’ was our answer. And then, we 
broke out the Stars and Bars! 

“A dozen broadsides soon settled it, though the 
Hatteras was fought bravely. She sank quickly 
after hauling down her flag. We only saved half the 
poor crew. Then off we flew like the wind to 
Havana. Here we have bamboozled the heavy Tus- 
carora, which could sink us in ten minutes. We are to 
get twenty-four hours’ official start of them and this 
by the use of some of the Ariel money with the 
Spanish Governor General. So, I have passed safely 
through my first sea battle. I am made Senior Lieu- 
tenant, and now you will not hear of me for a long 
time. I send letters for Felicie, and to my father. 
Love to you both, and to Jasper Leigh, my brotherly 
greeting. Tell him I do not forget I owe him my 
life, and I’ll repay him yet. Our boat begins to show 
much wear. We are in for a ringing run, but she only 
cost two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. We al- 
ready have done twenty-five million dollars worth of 
damage, and so, the Alabama will never fall into Yan- 
kee hands. She will be fought to the water’s edge. 
We may sell or destroy her, but we will never sur- 
render her!” 

“Just so,” growled Armytage. “Our shame is now 
complete. The poor devils of the Hatteras paroled 
and landed at Havana, will never be allowed to talk! 
Our Navy Department will smother this disgrace 
and I know too, that the dauntless Jack Magruder 
is getting ready a heavy cotton clad fleet at Galveston. 
Some day he will come in and wipe out both garrison 
and fleet. It seems that we are at the lowest notch 
of inefficiency all around, Even Grant seems to have 


SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 1 37 


failed us! Vicksburg laughs at us yet. And Farra- 
gut and Porter have no chance to overcome the plung- 
ing fire of the guns on the river banks !” 

“Robert,” said the beautiful Creole, “here is brighter 
news. Felicie has at last cut loose from Mrs. Pres- 
ton. She is now with Mrs. Van Reynegom, who 
gives her a tranquil home and a freedom from the 
matchmakers. God bless General Frank Pendleton ! 
Felicie writes that he is a Bayard in his manly kind- 
ness.” 

“And how can she explain this rash step to Gen- 
eral Villeroi?” anxiously said Armytage. 

“Mrs. Van Reynegom’s hospitality is veiled by Fe- 
licie’s pardonable fiction that she is living on a part 
of the governmental income of these estates.” 

“Elise,” gravely said Armytage. “Butler will be 
soon relieved. Weitzel and Banks are to follow him. 
Unless Felicie can finally be prevailed on to return 
here and assists us in defending these plantations, she 
will lose both as well as the New Orleans heritage. 
Poor Jasper Leigh! Could he only be here, we could 
defeat the schemes, but, I see trouble ahead. God 
knows where Leigh is wandering now. The Vander- 
bilt seems to be ordered to just the places where the 
Alabama is not. And she is the only ship now afloat 
that can run Mr. Semmes down. I suppose that we will 
have to wait till Semmes loses a propeller, is crippled in 
a heavy storm, or grows so madly bold that he will 
fight and so throw his ship away.” 

While the loving wife busied herself with her house- 
hold affairs, the disheartened Surgeon gloomily pon- 
dered over the abortive campaigns of ’6i and ’62. 

Only one thing brightened the little household at 
La Belle Etoile in the dawning spring of ’64. 

It was after Grant had magnificently won his chief 
command by the immortal laurels of Chattanooga and 
Missionary Ridge, that Felicie Villeroi sent her final 
decision to Elise Armytage. 

“General Villeroi has commissioned Mrs. Preston 
to remove me from Paris to Frankfort on the Main, 
where our Confederate financiers are making their 
last stand, Lo^s Napoleon begins to see that the 


13# SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 

North is stronger than he hoped. Slidell and Mason 
have failed, and the Confederate mission is bankrupt. 
Cotton no longer pours into Liverpool and so, the 
glow of first success is fading away. I have definitely 
written to my uncle that as the civil laws of Louisiana 
are suspended, and being over twenty-one, a few 
months now, I shall decline to obey Mrs. Preston! If 
driven to a last refuge, I shall find it in Saratoga, in 
New York, with Mrs. Van Reynegom who returns to 
America this Fall, and now I ask, later have you a 
shelter for me at La Belle Etoile. The beginning of 
the end is upon us. I am a Southern girl at heart and 
yet, thank God, no rebel ! Those who have sowed our 
dear Southland with graves have a fearful account to 
render. Counsel me; aid me; guide me; for, Gen- 
eral Villeroi has lost all claims upon me but those of 
natural .affection. Whatever frenzy against the North 
possesses him, it is not one which I share.” 

“Not a word of Jasper Leigh,” ominously said the 
Surgeon to his wife. 

“You do not know women,” was the reply of 
Madame Elise. “That is the surest sign of an unbreak- 
able attachment.” 

And the happy wife read rightly between the lines, 
for, as the Vanderbilt raced around the world, calling 
in at many ports, on an average two months after the 
departure of the now half crippled Alabama, the young 
Commander dispatched his heart history at regular in- 
tervals to the brave woman who was sustained by 
Morton and Mildred Van Reynegom in her unequal 
duel. 

Only Ranald Mason, fierce and still heart hungry, 
mounted guard over Felicie Villeroi. No one kne\v 
of his sullen oath to have the heart’s blood of the man 
who ever claimed the hand of the woman who so 
steadfastly rejected his proffered address. “There is 
a mystery in all this. I can wait,” growled Mason, 
now filling a mere sinecure in the powerless Confede- 
rate Embassy. 

And he diligently practiced with his pistol, waiting 
the coming man! He had a secret of his own to 


SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 1 39 

keep — even from this supposed uncle, the Commis- 
sioner. 

It was in March, ’64, that Jasper Leigh received 
orders at the Cape of Good Hope at last detaching 
him from the unlucky Vanderbilt , and directing him 
to proceed by the first British mail steamer, to Gib- 
raltar, and take station in Spain and Portugal, at Cadiz 
and Libson, as special Naval attache under the orders 
of the United States Ministers to England, France, 
Spain and Portugal. 

The dreaded Alabama had penetrated the Orient as 
far as Singapore. She had swept on to Australia, and 
then by some witchery of Semmes, had completely 
vanished ! 

Despite her work of wrath, though successful be- 
yond historic precedent, the overstrained corsair was 
fast wearing out. 

The Vanderbilt was systematically betrayed and 
hoodwinked, and Leigh saw only one bright omen of 
the ending of his last desperate run. 

Though on both coasts of South America, even in 
the Pacific, all over the broad Atlantic, the trailing 
smoke of any strange steamer made all American 
shipmasters scuttle towards the nearest haven, in ab- 
ject terror, the corsair had fired no single gun in bat- 
tle since the rotten old Hatteras went down partly 
under the shock of her own broadsides, and was caught 
decidedly napping. 

A few honest loyalists at various ports here and 
there, told of the desperate attempts of Semmes and 
Kells to effect the extensive needed repairs. And 
knowing well Raphael Semmes’ audacity, Leigh right- 
ly conjectured : “This crafty admiral of a one vessel 
fleet must soon make for some port of Europe where, 
if he can not effect his repairs, he will land his plunder, 
pay off his men, dismantle his famous ship and later, 
appear in command of a new commerce destroyer, un- 
less the Confederacy collapses on his hands. Then 
indeed, he would be a pirate. And even his guinea 
bought men, would not dare to obey him. The end 
cometh !” 

So secretly had Commander Leigh been landed at 


140 SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 

Capetown, that no one on the mail packet Cephalonia 
imagined Jasper Leigh to be a naval officer. Smoothly 
shaven and clad in a civilian suit of semi-clerical cut, 
the taciturn Yankee officer was avoided by the merry 
roysterers of the British packet. 

A secret conference between the Captain, the Ameri- 
can Consul and Leigh, developed the fact that the 
Alabama had undoubtedly passed the Cape of Good 
Hope on a return voyage without calling in. 

“There’s a steam whalers’ coal depot at Cape St. 
Martin,” said the perplexed Consul. “I have been 
spied on and followed ever since the first visit of the 
freebooter. I have no friends here, no one to trust. 
My identity is too well known. All the reports that 
you will receive here are only systematic lies. And all 
that I can discover is that unusual quantities of stores 
and marine supplies have been sent up to this Cape 
St. Martin in the last ten months. Traders, crimps, 
ship chandlers, all are in league against us.” 

It was a gloomy conclave, and while awaiting final 
orders, the Commander of the Vanderbilt made a 
thousand mile sweep around from Port Natal to Spen- 
cer Bay. 

Possessed of but one envelope of dispatches, his 
official luggage following by a second steamer, Jasper 
Leigh watched narrowly all his fellow passengers as 
the Cephalonia plodded up the African coast to Gib- 
raltar. 

On the voyage, he at last discovered in the steerage, 
a shabby sea-faring man, who was both in want and 
a frankly disgusted growler. 

Judiciously liberal in an affected charity, Jasper 
Leigh’s heart leaped up when he extracted bit by bit, 
the so far hidden news of Semmes’ last unprofitable 
tour. 

“From the West Indies, after a long detour on the 
coasts of Brazil, we swung over to Capetown, then 
went up into the Malay Archipelago, and later, as far 
as Singapore. But the hurrah made over us at Cape- 
town warned all the Yankee skippers in the East! 
They got the news by the mail steamers a month be- 
fore we pounced down. Three good months more 


SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 141 


were thrown away, and we found everything sheltered 
in neutral ports or else scattered on distant tracks, hun- 
dreds of miles from the usual courses. The Yankees 
are in a maritime panic everywhere. And yet, we have 
burned forty-five vessels out of the forty-seven taken 
since we sunk the poor old Hatteras. That was a 
pitiable victory, for we sneaked up, under false colors, 
and gave a lying answer to their hail.” 

Day by day, Leigh fed out grog and pocket money 
to this disgusted Confederate gunner. 

“The ship is stuffed with plunder, yet the men get 
nothing,” the sailor growled, “and in her foul condi- 
tion, she will some day blunder against a Yankee war 
vessel and soon go to the bottom, after a sharp action.” 

Jasper Leigh held his breath, for he dared not ex- 
cite the curiosity or suspicion of the resentful sailor. 
But before the Cephalonia landed him at Gibraltar, he 
knew the story of Semmes’ secret return without touch- 
ing at Capetown, of the long stay at Cape St. Martin, 
to crowd the boat with coal and supplies, and then 
the wide mid-ocean detour for the creeping home to 
the English Channel. 

“If she strikes a heavy Union cruiser, by chance,” 
muttered the deserter, “she is doomed, for even the gun 
decks were filled with coal in sacks. I was wrongly 
punished like a dog and so, I dropped into a Portuguese 
bumboat, got on a ' ircha and arrived at Capetown, with 
just money enough to pay a steerage passage back to 
Southampton. The Alabama sailed just when I stole 
away, and under sail and half steam, she expects to 
reach the Channel by the first of June, by this long 
roundabout track.” 

“Will she go into an English port?” cautiously 
asked Jasper. 

“How can she? The orders are still in force to 
detain her,” stubbornly said the deserter. “I heard 
the chief engineer say that they expected their home 
dispatches at Cherbourg, and all the drawings and pat- 
terns for the many repairs have been sent over from 
the Lairds, and the materials are at Cherbourg. The 
orders were sent from Capetown, three steamers ago, 
and the new materials will be ready in waiting. Cher- 


142 SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 

bourg is the only place where she can be fitly re- 
paired in a week. But she really needs a thorough 
docking and setting up, her steering qualities are away 
down now, the engines are loose, her ammunition is all 
gone stale, and the men even are out of fighting trim, 
it has only been a torch bearing trip. The whole 
fo’ksal gang are disgusted. They get neither glory nor 
extra pay.” 

“Why don’t they give her a month’s overhauling?” 
asked Leigh, with a landsman’s simplicity. 

“Bless your stars!” grunted the gunner. “There 
would be a dozen Yankee cruisers crowding on her 
track at once. And she would soon be nailed like the 
old Sumter was at ‘Gib.’ Necessary repairs and a 
twenty-four interval is all that even the Johnny Cra- 
pauds dare to give her now. She intends to sneak out 
into the North Sea, go around Scotland, and steal into 
Wilmington for her final repairs. But the Yanks may 
have reduced that place, so then it’s a run for Savan- 
nah or Mobile, for Charleston is tightly sealed up. 
There’s no facilities to make the repairs at Buenos 
Ayres, Rio Janeiro or the mouth of the Rio Grande, 
and the English Consuls, Governors and foreign sta- 
tion authorities are now getting afraid of their trouble- 
some visitor. No the jig’s up, and the sooner the worn 
out boat goes to Davy Jones’ locker, the better for all 
hands. Semmes may dismantle and sell her,” the 
sailor concluded. “He’s got the choice of two new 
iron sheathed boats at Liverpool, but it’s odds and 
evens that the Queen will not let them go. The truth 
is the Yankees are now wearing the South out. 
They’ve got the men, the ships and the money !” 

When Jasper Leigh had learned that the English 
warrant officers of the Alabama had written home 
secretly to have their letters all sent to Chenbourg, the 
disguised officer cautiously continued his grog and 
baccy rations, his pocket money and casual charity to 
the sea waif. 

Arrived at Gibraltar, he said: “Longford, I’m a 
poor man, but here’s a five pound note to keep you 
square with the steward till you reach old England.” 

“And I’m jolly well out of pirating,” said the grate- 


SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. I43 

ful Briton. “There’s a turn to all luck, after all. The 
Alabama has nabbed sixty-five vessels, burned four 
million dollars of Yankee property — sunk one poor old 
third-class war tub, and her own day in court is com- 
ing. I’ll take on the merchant marine. I’m disgusted 
with the sights I’ve seen. It was just legalized rob- 
bery — that’s all!” 

Stealing away to the Lisbon packet, Jasper Leigh, 
two days later sent a cipher dispatch to John Bigelow, 
who had replaced the loyal Dayton as Minister at 
Paris. 

“Poor Dayton,” sighed Leigh. “To die before our 
final victory, and in an alien and hostile land. Sad 
enough!” 

Jasper Leigh had not hesitated to take great re- 
sponsibility. He was on a Bordeaux steamer before 
his dispatch, “Coming to report to you,” had reached 
Minister Bigelow. 

Three days later he grasped Everett Morton’s hand 
as he descended at the Gare du Midi. 

On the way to the Legation, Leigh learned of the 
noble stand of Felicie Villeroi. 

“Still at bay and ready to throw off the yoke, and 
to go to America with Mrs. Van Reynegom, at any 
crisis. And it will soon come, for this Western rover, 
Ranald Mason, is now a morose fiend, possessed only 
by his mad desire to kill anyone who openly ap- 
proaches Felicie. Both Mrs. Slidell and Mrs. Preston 
have now joined forces with General Villeroi. They 
are afraid of Mason’s vehemence. Poor General Pen- 
dleton is a wreck now in Switzerland, and General 
Villeroi, a Division General with Joe Johnston, urges 
a marriage with young Mason. But his supposed 
uncle seems to be somewhat shy of this young mad- 
man. The situation is one of a pitiable tension. 

“Get to her at once, some way. You must!” cried 
Leigh, as he wrote a few lines on a leaf torn from his 
note book. “Bigelow will send me back at once to 
Lisbon. I feel it. I know it. For, there is grave news 
which I dare not even hint to you. Duty stares me in 
the face — a dutv so solemn that even Felicie Villeroi 
must be deceived. I will come to Mrs. Van Reyne- 


144 SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 

gom’s. The return train at midnight will take me back 
to Bordeaux in time for the Lisbon fast packet.’ 

Leaping out, Morton hailed a fiacre and sped away. 

Three hours later, John Bigelow said : “Commander 
Leigh, on you now depends the future fate of the Ala- 
bama. Here are your secret orders from the Navy De- 
partment. Perry, our Charge d’affaires at Madrid, will 
warn our Minister to Portugal. There is a Naval Offi- 
cer hidden away at Lisbon. Get to Cadiz at once. 
Perry will meet you there at the Consul’s. You shall 
have ample secret service funds sent you. He will pro- 
vide for the present. Your official luggage will be all 
sent on here to the Legation. Our agent at Gibraltar 
will attend to that. You are once more Mr. Charles 
Mason until you have sent me the first news of the 
appearance of the Alabama, Then, when it is definite, 
beyond any cavil, get here to me instantly. If she ap- 
pears in the channel, I will telegraph for you. Here 
is our new secret code. You are not to leave the Con- 
sul’s residence at Cadiz. He has carte blanche for 
spies all along from Cape Ortegal to Gibraltar. I 
cover the ground from there to Kiel. Mr. Adams has 
now a hundred secret agents in England, and our 
money begins to show results. Remember, be ready 
to come to me at a moment’s notice.” 

With ten thousand francs for expenses in his pocket, 
Leigh rose to leave. 

“Remember, you are to conceal your true character. 
If you were known either here or there, the Confed- 
erate colony would in some way embroil you, and 
probably shorten your life. God bless you ! Get away 
to your post. My hospitality will come later.” 

“I leave at midnight,” said Leigh. 

“Good ; I will at once telegraph to Perry,” said the 
patriotic Bigelow. “No one but you and 1 must know 
of your chance discovery. If Semmes comes into the 
Channel, he’ll find an old shipmate ready to greet him. 
I believe you have at last solved the mystery. Keep 
this secret for the sake of the flag.” 

It was in the villa at Neuilly, where Jasper Leigh 
once more folded the beloved one to his throbbing 
breast. There were no secrets now, and Mrs. Van 


SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 1 45 


Reynegom and Morton stood guard while Felicie 
poured out her burden of sorrows. 

The evening shadows were falling when Leigh came 
to a sudden decision. ‘'This is intolerable, beloved,” 
he cried. “Listen ! I shall be for some weeks within 
three days’ travel of Paris. Remain here at all haz- 
ards. I cannot disclose my locality, but Morton will 
bring you my letters, daily letters now, my darling, and 
send me yours in a Government dispatch bag, sent 
twice a week under our seal. The long struggle nears 
its close. Grant with a hundred and fifty thousand 
men — Sherman with a hundred thousand veterans, will 
meet in victory after Johnston and Lee have been 
both forced out of their lines. Thomas will guard Ken- 
tucky and Tennessee, and the end cometh ! But in any 
event, when you must declare yourself, telegraph to 
me through Morton. I will come here and we must 
be made at once man and wife, or — if there is any 
hostile environment, Mrs. Van Reynegom and your 
dear self can journey to meet me, where under the 
flag of our whole country, we will be married at the 
Legation. And then, General Villeroi, perforce, must 
abandon this harassing warfare. I had sworn in my 
heart that we should be married at La Belle Etoile,” 
sighed Leigh, “but I owe to you protection, and, you 
shall have it. Act only when forced to, but your life 
shall be freed of this insane strife.” 

“Be it so, Jasper,” replied the young woman, who 
listened to his story of the needed incognito. 

“ ‘Mr. Charles Mason,’ only for a brief time,” smiled 
Leigh. 

There were a thousand things left yet to say, when a 
carriage dashed up to the door. Mrs. Preston, Mrs. 
Slidell and the saturnine Ranald Mason were ushered 
into the drawing room by the excited butler. 

“Gravest tidings,” faltered Mrs. Van Reynegom, as 
she hurried Felicie Villeroi into the presence of the 
suddenly appearing enemy. 

In a moment, Everett Morton was at Leigh’s side. 
“There’s something very strange in this,” he whis- 
pered. “Ranald Mason is a fellow of infinite wit. He 
has probably watched our house. You must appear 


I ,6 SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 

with me socially as a mere blind. But for God’s sake, 
control yourself. I will attend to all !” 

Steeling himself for the ordeal, Leigh followed 
Morton to the drawing room, where Felicie Villeroi 
sat weeping. 

“The news of General Villeroi’s capture as a pris- 
oner of war cannot but break off any mere social en- 
gagement,” icily remarked Mrs. Preston. “Now that 
all exchanges are stopped by the brutality of the Fed- 
erals, my poor friend will be herded at Elmira or Camp 
Douglas with our starving brethren.” 

Jasper Leigh controlled his tell-tale face as Mrs. 
Van Reynegom presented him to the three new 
comers. 

“Of the Masons of Virginia, Sir?” queried the 
Southern attache, with an ill disguised hostility of 
manner. 

“Of the Masons of New York, Sir,” calmly rejoined 
Leigh, steadily returning the fiery Southerner’s 
glances. 

“Not in either army, I suppose?” continued Ranald, 
whose suspicions were aroused by Felicie’s startled 
glances^ 

“No, Sir,” gravely said Jasper Leigh. “A civilian 
like yourself, far removed from the shock of battle.” 

“Let us go,” suddenly said Mrs. Preston, laying her 
hand on Ranald Mason’s arm. “At General Villeroi’s 
age, this imprisonment will probably mean his death. 
Thank God, he was but slightly wounded.” 

Forced to all the agony of a dumb show parting, 
Jasper Leigh saw the beloved queen of his heart 
hastened away, with scant ceremony. At the door, 
Ranald Mason said adieu with a marked courtesy to 
Everett Morton, who was le bien venn in all circles of 
Paris, his secret functions being still unsuspected. 

A contemptuous glance of direct insult was the only 
sign vouchsafed of Leigh’s presence. 

“Hold,” whispered Morton, as Leigh started for- 
ward. “For Felicie’s sake ! Wait — wait !” 

Neither of the two men heard Ranald Mason’s whis- 
per to Baptiste, the butler, who aided the fiery Con- 
federate diplomat with his top coat and other belong- 


SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 147 

ings, while Mrs. Van Reynegom was making a 
lengthened adieu speech to the trembling Felicie. “A 
thousand francs if you come to my rooms to-night at 
midnight,” the young Virginian murmured. ‘‘Take 
this card. I will wait for you.” 

Baptiste’s velvety smile was his only answer. 

That night, while Jasper Leigh was flying along 
towards Bordeaux, Mr. Ranald Mason clenched his 
fists in fury when he listened to Baptiste’s glib story. 

“Oui, Monsieur; closeted together three hours, and 
— it is not the first time. This gentleman was here 
once before, nearly two years ago ! And it was then a 
very tender episode. It is Madame Van Reynegom 
who knows all. This beautiful demoiselle absolutely 
confides in her.” 

Ranald Mason raged when the offered bribe of even 
five thousand francs failed to produce any hint of Mr. 
Charles Mason’s identity. 

“Monsieur, I do not know. There is Monsieur 
Everett Morton, to him, all must be known.” 

“Keep a good watch, Baptiste,” said the Virginian. 
“Here’s your money and five hundred francs extra. 
Let me know all. Come here — or down to our office, 
and simply send in this card at any time.” Mason 
handed the treacherous butler a dozen visiting cards 
of his own with a peculiar penciled mark. 

Tramping his rooms like a caged wolf, Mason raged 
till his eyes fell on his pistol case. “I’ll shoot that 
smug fellow before three days,” he cried, as he took 
a glass of brandy and then threw himself down, but 
not to sleep. 

“So, Missy, I have at last caught you at your tricks,” 
he growled. And yet, he felt in his heart of hearts that 
Felicie was lost to him. 

He secretly feared the spirited girl, whose glances 
of disdain froze the words upon his lips. 

The next day at four, Ranald Mason sauntered into 
the Cafe Riche, where the light-hearted Everett Mor- 
ton was playing a game of dominoes with Count de 
Keratry. 

“Strange sort of chap, that friend Mason of yours ?” 


/ 


148 SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 

carelessly said the Virginian. “Where does h$ put 
up ?” 

“He puts up just now,” lightly answered Morton, 
“on the steamer bound for New York. He left for 
Havre at midnight. I saw him off.” 

A cruel gleam lightened Ranald Mason’s eyes. “A 
sudden departure, very,” he sneered. 

“Why so?” calmly rejoined Morton. “‘Charley 
Mason’ is an old college senior of mine, a man out of 
health forced to travel, and he only stopped over on his 
way home to have a shake hands with me.” 

“Has he ever been here before?” persisted the 
Southerner. 

“He passed through Paris two years ago, on his way 
to the Levant and Egypt,” said Morton, deftly match- 
ing his dominoes. “His mother’s death calls him home 
to adjust a large estate.” 

“I thought I had often seen him in Paris. It’s the 
sort of a face a man wouldn’t soon forget !” the South- 
erner growled. 

Morton dropped his dominoes and gazed at Mason. 
“Why, old man, my aunt had even forgotten him when 
he called. He dined with us on his first stay, and since 
then he’s been doing the Orient. He abhors Paris, and 
is a fellow of very quiet tastes.” 

“And so, he’s, really gone?” murmured Mason, his 
nerves relaxed in his balked revenge. 

“Absolutely so; bag and baggage,” cheerfully said 
Morton, as the game broke up, and the young men 
proceeded to discuss a bottle of wine. 

“This fellow Morton is either telling me the truth, 
or else, he is a colossal liar, one of phenomenal smooth- 
ness,” mused the revengeful Mason. “I’ll have Missy’s 
correspondence watched. Can Baptiste have skinned 
me. He knows that I would not dare to raise a rackef. 
Mrs. Van Reynegom will of course be posted by Mor- 
ton at once. I made a bad move. I wonder if the 
Yankee really slipped away to avoid fighting me. He 
looks like a fellow of nerve, though.” 

And for all his ceaseless activity, for two months 
Ranald Mason’s ire slumbered. There was no means 
of breaking Miss Villeroi’s icy calm. She had de- 


SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 1 49 

dined to go to America to assuage General Villeroi’s 
captivity. 

“You observe, dear Mrs. Preston,” soberly said 
Felicie, “your news of General Villeroi’s capture is un- 
confirmed. There are no letters from the General. I 
know not if he is in Camp Douglas, at Chicago, or at 
Elmira. And, strange to say, the General’s bankers 
here, have had no calls for money. He has been using 
his reserves deposited here. Certainly, neither you nor 
Mrs. Slidell can take me to New York. We must wait.” 

“That girl is too devilish cheerful to suit me,” mused 
her desperate lover. 

And yet, no fruits of victory rewarded the secret 
watch of Miss Villeroi’s correspondence. There were 
no letters in a masculine handwriting delivered to the 
lonely heiress, who sweetly conformed to the general 
supervision of her two volunteer chaperons. 

No missive addressed to “Mr. Charles Mason” left 
her hand, and even the watchful Baptiste had nothing 
to impart in return for the golden louis which he craved. 

“Attendez,” growled Baptiste. “He loves her 
— ce Monsieur . He will come again.” 

No adverse pressure could break off, however, the 
intimacy between the steadfast Felicie and Mrs. Van 
Reynegom, and her nephew. 

“I’d like to wring Morton’s neck,” growled Mason, 
and yet there was not the faintest ground for suspicion. 

The three friends at the Neuilly villa were thorough- 
ly forewarned by Ranald Mason’s peculiar behavior and 
his clumsy pumping of the astute young American se- 
cret attache. Felicie’s visits with her Southern friends 
had been long drawn out. 

“These two must never meet again,” decided Everett 
Morton. “There will be grave trouble, if they do. 
Ranald Mason is a madman, a man devoid of reason, 
on this one subject alone. Poor fellow! There are 
maidens in Scotland more lovely by far, who would 
gladly be bride of the young Lochinvar.” 

Serenely happy at heart, tranquil at the temporary 
security of the imperiled estates, Jasper Leigh at 
Cadiz, was busied night and day in his fruitless watch 
for the Alabama, when he was startled into an instant 


150 SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 

activity on the ninth of June, in this fateful year of 
sixty-four, by an imperative cipher dispatch from Min- 
ister Bigelow. 

“At last! At last! Thank God!” cried Leigh, as 
he read the words transmitted by Perry from Madrid. 
“The Alabama seen off the Lizard, inward bound. 
Report here instantly!” 

“This means a fight,” cried Leigh, as he snatched 
a portmanteau, and, hurried on by Consul Austin, 
caught the departing Bordeaux steamer. 

It was the twelfth of June, at sunset, when Jasper 
Leigh was ushered into the presence of Minister John 
Bigelow. A dozen secretaries and aids were all busied 
under a high pressure. Some great event seemed to 
be momentarily expected. 

“The very man!” joyously cried Bigelow. “Morton 
here has all your luggage at his house. He will give 
you a trusty man. Get there; get into your uniform. 
Morton will bring you the dispatches. I have a spe- 
cial train in waiting. The Alabama dropped her anchor 
yesterday at Cherbourg. Now, God be praised, Cap- 
tain John A. Winslow is at Flushing with^the Kear- 
sarge. I have already telegraphed him to pen up the 
Alabama in Cherbourg. My spies say that she is go- 
ing to repair, and permission has been given. Get to 
Winslow ; spare no expense ! Give him all your details 
as to the condition of Semmes’ boat. Aid him in every 
way. When he is done with you, your dispatches duly 
delivered, come back here and report to me.” 

“And then?” cried Jasper Leigh, his face flushing 
crimson. 

“Why, then — you’ll go down to Cherbourg — go on 
board the Kearsarge and help sink the Alabama! And 
mark you, Leigh, see that you make a good job of it !” 

“God bless you!” cried Jasper Leigh. “I am glad 
to say good-bye to ‘Mr. Charles Mason.’ This is the 
chance I’ve waited two long years for.” 

“Hurry!” cried the excited Bigelow. “Morton will 
put you on your train and provide all. Let nothing 
stop you a moment, on your life !” 

Before the Minister could raise his eyes, Leigh was 
off. “Felicie?” he whispered to Morton. 


SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 151 

“I’m dining with my aunt. She is there now/' re- 
plied the young diplomat, as he thrust Leigh into a 
carriage. “Conceal the news of this coming battle 
from her/’ cried Morton, as the horses sprang forward. 
“You’ll find all your things ready in my room. Wat- 
son, my man, will be your attendant and companion. ,, 

“Thank God, Leigh will not m;et that mad fool, 
Mason/’ mused Morton. “Minister Bigelow is right. 
Jasper Leigh must not be seen in Paris. The whole 
Confederate colony is simply crazed with the arrival 
of Semmes’ flagship.” 

Driving to the Neuilly Villa, Jasper Leigh was met 
at the door by the sturdy Watson, who whispered : 
“You’ve just time to dress for dinner, Sir. The ladies 
are both in Mrs. Reynegom’s room.” 

Ten minutes later, Watson was half done packing 
the Commander’s hastily selected outfit for the Flush- 
ing trip, when Jasper Leigh descended to the drawing 
room, clad in his undress uniform. , 

There was the sound of elastic steps and Felicie Vil- 
leroi sprang into his arms. 

Unmindful of the watchful Baptiste's cunning smile, 
the two lovers sought the shaded library, when sud- 
denly, the Louisianian beauty clasped her hands across 
her heaving bosom. “My God! I see all, Jasper. This 
uniform! The Alabama is at Cherbourg! You go to 
fight her.” 

“Not so, darling,” fondly cried Leigh. “I leave 
Paris to-night, in an hour — to go to Holland — on my 
ordnance business.” 

But half convinced, yielding to her raptures, Felicie 
rapidly told her lover of the arrival of General Vil- 
leroi at the Confederate Soldiers Detention Camp at 
Elnfira. “It will save his life,” hopefully said Felicie. 
“They say they treat the Southern prisoners well. The 
war is dragging on to its awful close.” 

“Be comforted, my own,” gravely said Leigh, now 
fearful of the sound of wheels. “The General will 
have every honor due to his rank and age. I will 
write” — He was drinking in her glorious beauty under 
the spell of her shining eyes — when the roll of a coupe 
interrupted him. “I will have a train waiting to take 


152 SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 

me to Holland. I will return here in four days. Be 
doubly watchful. Do not fret about the Alabama! She 
will probably be dismantled and sold like the useless 
Sumter ” began Leigh, when the door of the library 
was suddenly thrown open and Henri Villeroi leaped 
into the dusky room, in the full uniform of a Lieuten- 
ant of the Confederate Navy. 

“Henri!” screamed Felicie, as she fell sobbing into 
her cousin’s arms. 

But Jasper Leigh started back as the bronzed young 
Confederate officer grasped both his hands : “My dear 
Jasper,” he faltered, and then, both of the sailors 
turned their heads away, for with a gasp Felicie Vil- 
leroi gazed upon the two blanched faces. 

“I see it all ! You will meet soon in battle ! Oh, 
God, have mercy !” 

And then, the sweet woman tottered and fell help- 
lessly into Henri’s arms. 

“Leave us for a moment,” whispered Henri. “For 
God’s sake, dear old boy, I will deceive her; for your 
sake, for her sake, for the old Academy! Wait for 
me in the dining-room. I will come for you. Say not 
a word to the hostess here. We are not foes.” 

“Brothers!” cried Leigh, as he reluctantly sought 
the drawing room. 

Dropping his head in his hands, he sank into a chair. 
“Morton will be here at any moment. Great God ! 
I cannot leave her so. And — Henri here !” 

There was the sharp click of a snapping door lock, 
and Ranald Mason, his face livid with passion, sprang 
at his unmasked enemy. “So, you damned masquerad- 
ing Yankee spy, I’ve got you at last!” the rejected 
lover cried. “But, I’ll have your blood before you leave 
Paris ! You sneak into the affections of a defenseless 
girl!” 

Jasper Leigh, pale and stern, started back a step. 
“What do you mean ? Are you mad ? Who are you to 
so address me?” cried Leigh. 

“There’s my answer!” yelled Mason, as he struck 
Leigh a stinging blow on the cheek. 

There was a crash as the frenzied assailant went 
down like a log, and when Henri Villeroi and Felicie 


SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 1 53 

found their way through the back drawing room, for 
Mason had locked the door, Leigh was kneeling with 
his whole weight on Mason’s chest. 

Henri sprang and quickly unlocked the drawing- 
room door as Everett Morton dashed through the front 
door. 

“What means all this fracas?” sternly demanded 
Morton, as Leigh allowed the prostrate man to rise. 

“It means,” began Leigh, but there was a scuffle as 
Everett Morton wrenched a heavy revolver away from 
the frantic Mason. 

“You stand quiet, there, or by heaven, I’ll blow your 
brains out!” commanded Morton. 

“I do not know this man,” gravely said Commander 
Leigh, as the chorus of frightened servants arose 
around the prostrate Mrs. Van Reynegom, who had 
swooned. “He attacked me without cause!” 

“Without cause — you Yankee liar !” growled Mason. 
“You have stolen away the heart of the woman whom 
I love.” 

“Never!” cried Felicie Villeroi, in a ringing voice. 
“It was never yours ! Thank God, my cousin is here, 
a gallant Villeroi, to protect me now against your in- 
sane pursuit. I am not your slave — your wife I never 
will be, so help me, God. No man shall ever call me 
wife save the man whom you insulted.” 

“Where can I send you my seconds?” muttered 
Mason, with a fiendish scowl, turning to Leigh. 

“Nowhere!” said the tall commander, “I am under 
orders. You are only a ruffian. I will not meet you, 
but I will shoot you like a dog, on sight, if you annoy 
me.” 

“Coward !” sneered Mason. “You ran away before 
to escape my pistol. Left Paris in the night.” 

Leigh started forward, but Henri Villeroi laid his 
hand on the elder man’s arm. 

“Hold off, Mason !” commanded Henri in a stern 
voice. “I owe this man my life. He saved it for me 
at New Orleans. You came to conduct me, as a gen- 
tleman, to the presence of my cousin. I’ve learned 
enough to see that you’ve dogged her like a mad wolf. 
Commander Leigh is, in honor, bound to depart at once 


TJ4 SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 

on orders. You can not impugn his courage. I will 
not permit it. For your insults to my cousin — for your 
brutality here — for your insane jeers to a man tied to 
his duty, I’ll take his place with pleasure and give you 
all the shooting you want.” 

“By no means !” politely added Everett Morton. “I 
have a little private account to settle here.” Morton 
stood with the pistol still in his hand. He touched the 
bell. “Baptiste,” calmly said the young diplomat, “how 
much money has this gentleman paid you to spy upon 
my aunt and Miss Villeroi? Stay, don’t trouble to 
lie. I am going to discharge you without a character, 
anyway, and then, give you over to the police !” 

“Three thousand francs,” sullenly answered the un- 
abashed scoundrel. “He only wished to know when 
this gentleman would return.” 

“Liar again !” quietly said Morton. “You have been 
reporting at night, to Mr. Ranald Mason, for three 
long months, several times a week. Go out and await 
my orders or I will land you in Mazas prison. Now, 
Mr. Ranald Mason,” firmly said Morton, “I have been 
examining your own past record. I have certain means 
at my disposal that you little dream of. You have im- 
posed upon the Confederacy’s chivalric representative 
here, and practiced a long deceit. You took on the 
name of a distant relative who died in California in 
sixty. Who you really are, I know not, I care not — 
only that you are an impostor, and you have enriched 
yourself by Commissioner Mason’s well-known bounty. 
No Mason of Virginia would act as you have done! 
I’ll not have Lieutenant Villeroi meet you. He is a 
thoroughbred and already dear to me for his cousin’s 
sake. It is my plan to defend my aunt’s home. You 
shall fight neither of these gentlemen. I’ll give you 
just three days to clear out and leave Paris. I did not 
intend you two men to meet. If there’s any shooting 
to do, let me do it — right here and now ! You wished 
to marry the woman who will yet be one of the richest 
women in the new born South. That was your little 
game !” 

“It’s false,” cried the detected adventurer. 

“Ah,” placidly said Morton, “then, I’ll meet you at 


SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 1 55 

ter* to-morrow, at Commissioner Mason’s office, and 
undeceive him, in your presence!” 

When Felicie raised her head in astonishment, the 
exposed imposter had vanished. 

“Now, Leigh,” sadly said Morton, as he pocketed 
the loaded pistol, “Watson has your traps in the car- 
riage. I’ll wait for you. Remember !” 

At a sign, Henri Villeroi followed Morton into the 
hall. Jasper Leigh caught Felicie in his arms. 

“In four days, I will be safely back here. I swear 
it.” Showering mad kisses on her lips, the Commander 
sprang towards the door. 

Henri Villeroi’s arms closed around Leigh’s sturdy 
form. He whispered : “Thank God, she knows noth- 
ing ! Leave all to me. God be with you, old boy. 
Brothers ?” 

“To the last!” cried Jasper Leigh, gazing into the 
face of the gallant boy. “Take care of her, Henri, for 
both our sakes. God will shield you in the coming 
battle !” 

Their eyes met, and then Henri knew a death strug- 
gle soon awaited the fierce sea rover ! 


BOOK III. 


The Grist of the Gods. 


chapter XI. 

AN OCEAN DUEL. 

Two days later, Jasper Leigh was closeted with Cap* 
tain John A. Winslow and Commander Thornton, on 
the staunch Kearsarge at Flushing, while the Ameri- 
can Consul listened to the three officers discussing 
every weak point of the Alabama. 

“I wish,” said Winslow, “that you were to be with 
us, Commander Leigh. Your knowledge of the enemy 
is invaluable.” 

“I am first to report your every need to Minister 
Bigelow, and then,” quietly said Leigh, “a French 
fisher boat will put me on board the Kearsarge , the 
very moment you reach Cherbourg. Finish all your 
repairs here. You’ll get nothing at Cherbourg, and 
the Alabama can’t get away.” 

“I fancy we’ll give a good account of ourselves, 
Thornton,” said Captain Winslow. “Semmes is my 
old comrade, and he seems to want a fight.” 

“He’ll get a hard one,” quietly rejoined Thornton, as 
he grasped Leigh’s hand. “Just the man we want! 
You will share my cabin.” 

While the whole city of Cherbourg went mad in 
entertainment of the boasting crew of the Alabama, 
and Paris was stirred from the Tuileries to the depths 
of the slums, by the approaching naval duel, the tall 
spars of the Kearsarge at last appeared on June four- 
teenth, in the offing, as the cautious Winslow deliber- 
ately cruised up and down, just outside the marine 


Special orders for commander leigh. 157 

jurisdiction of His Majesty the Emperor Louis 
Napoleon. 

The French press was in a ferment — excursion 
trains were run to Cherbourg. That city and the 
heights nearby were crowded with curious thousands 
— sight-seers flocked over from England, and a bitter 
war of the Union and Confederate colonies began in 
the hotels, cafes and even the lobbies of the theatres. 

The United States Legation — the Confederate Com- 
missioners were both making superhuman exertions to 
aid their respective champions, and while Jasper Leigh 
took his sad farewell of Felicie Villeroi, lying in a 
brain fever, in z. darkened room of the Neuilly villa, 
— the bright-eyed Henri Villeroi was toiling on his bat- 
tery of the Alabama. 

“Poor Jasper! Poor Felicie!” sighed the brave 
young officer. “If either he or I is knocked over, 
Felicie will be crushed at heart. Why the devil must 
they send him over here? And yet, both of us will do 
our duty. He’s a nobleman at heart, and he shall live 
to marry that girl !” 

It was on the fifteenth of June, when Captain 
Semmes sent out his courteous defi, begging his old 
ship mate, Winslow, “not to leave the vicinity of Cher- 
bourg.” 

“Leave,” echoed Henri Villeroi, “the old chap is 
cruising up and down here like a black shark awaiting 
his prey. He is not the kind of man to leave !” 

And so, with all the facilities of the port used night 
and day, the hasty equipping of the Alabama fever- 
ishly went on. 

Jasper Leigh and Everett Morton walked the streets 
of Cherbourg for a half day until they learned that 
Captain Semmes had landed his luggage, valuables, 
species, all the piled up plunder, two hundred chro- 
nometers, and a mass of other unwilling contributions 
from people whom he had met. 

Leigh’s last duty was to obtain through a few loyal 
friends of the Union, the exact details of both ships 
for a final comparison. The Alabama was two hun- 
dred and twenty feet long, of eleven hundred and fifty 
tons, carrying one seven-inch Blakely rifle, one eight- 


I5S SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 

inch smooth bore sixty-eight pounder, and six thirty- 
two pounders, in broadside. 

The Kearsarge was two hundred and fifteen feet 
long, of one thousand and thirty tons, armed with 
two eleven-inch Dahlgrens, one tnirty pounder rifle, 
and but four tnirty-two pounders. 

One hundred and fifty men manned the Alabama, 
with one hundred and sixty-two on the National 
cruiser. 

The Alabama took eight days with an overwhelming 
force to fit her for the bridal of a first real battle, and 
was provided with fresh ammunition and the best 
trained gunners that money could hire. 

It was on Saturday evening, the eighteenth of June, 
that Leigh gravely handed Everett Morton his last let- 
ter for Felicie Villeroi. “They ordered their banquet 
for victory for to-morrow night, at the swell hotel here, 
old fellow/’ said Leigh. “I’ve got a French smack to 
drop me on the Kearsarge before ten o’clock. Now, re- 
member, if I’m knocked over, Felicie has all my estate. 
You know where my will is. To-morrow I’ll look to 
the shore and think of you. Half of France is already 
here and the other half is coming to see the fight !” 

At the strana, the two friends embraced in silence. 
“Take my watch and chain just for luck!” said Leigh. 
“Give her this letter, and if I don’t turn up, just tell 
her that I died with her name on my lips. 

“The battle?” whispered Morton. 

“Now, see here,” cheerfully cried Leigh. “We’ve 
got a red-headed marine with an old key bugle, to play 
‘Columbia’s the Gem of the Ocean/ during the whole 
performance. And he can’t blow longer than an hour!” 

With a professional wink, Leigh jumped on the 
Frenchman’s smack and gaily cried “Allez!” 

Each of the friends had tossed a silver eagle dollar 
into the waves to propitiate Father Neptune, and 
Leigh, grave and composed, preparing for battle on the 
Kearsarge that night, was far happier than the sleep- 
less Morton, who walked his room in vain tribulation 
of spirit. 

Leigh noted the chain anchor cables slung along the 


SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 1 59 

midship sections of the Kearsarge , and neatly boxed 
over with inch fir boards. 

“Neat trick of Thornton’s/’ mused Leigh. “I sup- 
pose that Kells will do the same. They learned that of 
Farragut at New Orleans. But, they say they expect f o 
sink us in half a dozen quick broadsides ! We will sec; 
we will see!” mused Jasper Lee, as his heart went 
out to the white faced girl lying far away at Neuilly, 
her tender heart divided between friend and foe ! 

The calm June evening wore away till eight bells 
sent all the crew of the Kearsarge below, save the 
provo watch. The vessel was under easy steerage way, 
smoothly dividing the greasy black water. 

All along the peninsula of Cotentin even the twink- 
ling lights of cottages and a chain of glaring light 
houses led up and down the coast. 

Behind the great group of forts, the sleepy town was 
relapsing into quiet, but the red danger lights on the 
forts and magazines, still cast their lurid reflections on 
the waves. 

On the quarterdeck, Captain Winslow, with his 
night glass, keenly watched the harbor with Com- 
mander Thornton. The whole crew of the Kearsarge 
was kept on the alert. A group of impatient young 
“middies” buzzed around on the spar deck below, for 
all men knew that the foxy Alabama might come out 
with a wild rush, driving straight for the English coast, 
only sixty miles away. 

“No, Thornton,” said Winslow, “I know Raphael 
Semmes’ stern pride. He is as brave as he is able — he 
might desperately lay himself alongside to board us, 
but he is seaman enough to know that we are under 
steerage way, with full steam. He will never run away 
or sneak off. Is your ship fit ?” 

“Just as fit, Captain,” said Thornton, “as any ship 
can be, that nas been in commission two years. They 
have had the advantage of the last thorough repair.” 

“His eight days here have been made sixteen, by 
night and day work, and two hundred experts have 
been busy on" her— all their materials were sent from 
the Lairds’ shops. We have not overstrained our ship 
and they have certainly run the devil's own race. It 


l6o SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 

will be at last only a problem of seamanship and cool 
gunnery.” 

“What will Semmes do to-morrow?” gravely asked 
the Captain. 

“Make a sharp running fight and try to go out to 
sea,” quietly answered Thornton. “Or, if we hurt 
him, then he will try to run back to port and sink or 
beach her inside the neutral line.” 

“I will ask ior nothing, Sir, if you only keep between 
him and the shore, after we fire the first gun. Our men 
will do the rest !” 

With a sigh, Captain John A. Winslow went below 
to write his last letters to the hostages of fortune at 
home. 

“The old man will be a Commodore and have earned 
a gold medal and diamond set sword to-morrow night, 
or else, be laid out in the bone vard !” mused Thornton. 
“He has got a quiet, ugly mood on !” 

And then, Thornton turned away to talk gunnery 
with the two commanders of his port and starboard 
batteries. 

“I’m going to put the marines and a choice crew on 
the forecastle with that pivot gun, gentlemen,” said 
Thornton. “All that I ask for is cool, deliberate, low 
firing. No hurry. It’s steady, steady, that does the 
job!”. 

While this gliding black shark crawled up and down 
before the breakwater, Raphael Semmes, Port Captain 
in waiting and Admiral to be — of the C. S. N. — gave 
Commander Kells his last private orders. 

“They can stand a little more knocking about than 
we can,” slowly said Semmes. “Pve learned one 
thing. War ships cannot be built in a day. The 
Kcarsarge and Tuscarora are not shop work. Presi- 
dent Davis did his best to give us a good navy. All our 
brilliant sea flotilla, now afloat, is of mere haphazard 
construction. Floyd put us in good shape for a land 
fight, but where can a new born nation buy a ready 
made navy? No, warships betray themselves and 
must be built in the open. Both France and England 
have now taken the alarm ! I doubt if we will ever get 
the new heavy ships. Our river and harbor iron clads 


SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. l6l 

have done well enough. Oh, if we could only have got 
all those ships at Norfolk! I wanted to make a dash 
before the inauguration of Lincoln, and get all those 
ships unharmed. That fool Commodore Macauley 
could have taken every one north uninjured. President 
Buchanan could have saved the whole navy yard. But, 
Buchanan feared to enrage Virginia. Jeff Davis 
wanted to juggle Robert Lee into his hands, and so this 
ass Macauley simply sent eight magnificent ships to 
Davy Jones’ locker burned ! If Isaac Toucey had dared 
to help us as Floyd did, we would to-day control the 
ocean.” 

“It’s too late for these vain regrets, Captain,” said, 
Kells. 

“Yes,” cried Semmes, starting up. “I know John A. 
Winslow. My old shipmate is no fool ! And he has 
Thornton with him, a man fully as good as you are, 
Kells, and that’s saying a great deal. My North Caro- 
lina born Yankee antagonist is a cool commander. He; 
showed it in the Mexican War, on the Mississippi, and 
he is crafty as well as he is able. How are our officers 
and men?” 

“Crazed with the abuse poured out upon us as 
pirates for two long years, maddened with seeing that 
old tub crawl up and down before the port, flaunting 
her damned gridiron !” fiercely said Kells. 

“Then,” said Semmes, “there’s only one way to fight 
him. Pour in the broadsides as quick as we can. If 
we can carry away his mainmast, we can stand off and 
punch him to death with cur two Long Toms. Close 
quarters we cannot stand, Kells. She is far too sub- 
stantial for us !” 

It was a beautiful Sunday morning, and the white 
fortifications gleamed in the genial sun. 

Already the forty thousand dwellers in Napoleon 
Bonaparte’s old sea coast citadel were on the cliffs, re- 
inforced by twenty thousand polyglot visitors. The 
church bells vainly called the faithful to mass, as many 
carriages rattled through the streets filled with knots 
of excited sympathizers waving Confederate flags. 

In the principal hotel, the dignified chefs and nimble 
marmitons were setting about the preparation of the 


1 62 SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 

great banquet ordered by the dashing officers of the 
Alabama. 

“There will be a grand ball,” gaily announced the 
maitre d’hotel, to a traveler. “The whole house is 
engaged by the Southerners to-night.” 

Perched on a high pinnacle of the nearest cliff, alone, 
with his marine glasses, Everett Morton marked the 
three star-spangled war flags flying at the masthead of 
the Kearsarge , with her great battle ensign drooping 
astern to the water from her spanker. 

An unwonted hush fell on the town of Cherbourg, 
the dingy old Carusberg, where the moody Napoleon 
once vainly nursed his schemes of invading le perfide 
Albion. The clangor of the church bells died away, 
and a half league out at sea, Morton could mark the 
dense black clouds pouring from the Kearsarge' s fun- 
nel, as she slowly glided along, a waiting black shark, 
and ominously silent. 

“Damn her deliberation !” cried the irritated Execu- 
tive Officer Kells, as he ordered all hands on the Ala- 
bama to quarters at nine o’clock. “We’ll take some of 
the starch out of her anyway.” 

Henri Villeroi, with the light of battle in his eyes, 
leaned upon his sword, and thought of his gallant foe- 
man on the Kearsarge. Felicie Villeroi had told her 
cousin of Jasper Leigh’s noble generosity. “God bless 
him and shield him from harm to-day!” mused Vil- 
leroi, as he recalled all Leigh’s sailor brotherhood. But 
he cried “Hurrah for Louisiana !” as the “Stars and 
Bars” were broken out on the corsair, and then, noth- 
ing but the hoarse commands of the officers and the 
boatswain’s whistle broke the brooding silence. 

Out in tne rippling waves, the Kearsarge glided 
slowly along, in a grim silence, while prayers were 
being read, the capstan covered with that flag, under 
which a half million men have died for their whole 
country. 

The resolute voices of the men rose “like an anthem, 
clear and strong, their battle-eve confession.” 

It was when Captain Winslow was thoughtfully re- 
entering his cabin to lay aside his prayer book, that his 
squad of middies timidly approached him. 


SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 1 63 

“Well, young gentlemen,” said the Captain, rosy and 
freshly shaven, standing there, with a kindly gleam in 
his eyes. 

“\Vhat we want to know, Sir,” said one, touching his 
cap and frightened at the sound of his own voice, “are 
you going to fight the Alabama to-day ? 

“Take a last look at your Bibles, young men,” 
gravely replied the sturdy man of fifty-four. “You’ll 
have all the fighting that you want before sunset 1” 

“Then he’s not going out to sea, to leave her!” cried 
a brave lad, as the little coterie broke up in breathless 
excitement. 

At twenty minutes past ten, a rolling cloud of black 
smoke drifted southward, and Jasper Leigh, on the 
quarterdeck, saw the Alabama sweeping out from her 
anchorage, the Southern battle flag blown defiantly out 
on the fitful winds. 

A huge black bulk, the French iron clad Couronne , 
lurched along behind her, a friendly escort, while a 
rakish English steam yacht raced along in the rear. 

Leigh could see the burgee of the Royal Yacht Club. 
“Bad taste!” cried Leigh. “They come out to see 
brave men die, butchered to make a holiday. I’d like 
to fight this little duel out on a lonely sea, with only the 
stars of Heaven over us !” 

Turning to Lieutenant Preble, Leigh calmly said : 
“Ned, are we going to fight the whole bunch?” 

“Looks like it !” cried the handsome Preble, tossing 
his cigar overboard, and tightening his sword belt. 
“Don’t you fret, old man. We can hold our own! 
Come down and see my battery.” 

Captain Winslow was on the quarterdeck in a mo- 
ment, as with Thornton at his side, he received the re- 
port of the deck officer. “ Alabama on the port bow, 
coming out, Sir !” quietly remarked the pale young En- 
sign, touching his cap. 

“Are you all ready, Mr. Thornton?” soberly in- 
quired the Captain. 

With a flush of manly pride, the Executive saluted, 
saying : “Fit for action, Sir !” 

“Then, take your ship. Call to quarters, and hold 
your fire!” 


164 SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LElGH. 

A wild rolling cheer rang out as the singing bugle 
turned the men up for their dance of death. 

And then, nothing was heard but the steady throb, 
throb of the engines, as the Kearsarge, headed outward 
steamed away from her fleet adversary, deliberately, 
turning seawards. 

A yell of execration went up on the cliffs of Cher- 
bourg as the mercenal French derisively cried: “The 
Yankee runs away!” 

They could not hear the stern words : “Cast loose 
and provide!” as with their battle blades bending in 
their nervous hands, the battery commanders gazed 
upon their eager men. 

Jasper Leigh walked down through the gun deck. 
Tears came to his eyes as he saw the old Yankee salts 
stripping to the buff, and the jackies took their last 
munch of navy plug. 

There were hardy mackerel fishers, stout schooner 
captains, blue faced old sailor veterans, who had 
longed for two years for this day of days. 

“Remember; low and slow’s the word, men!” cried 
Ned Preble, tossing back his chestnut curls, as he si- 
lently grasped Leigh’s hands. “It’ll be a hot box down 
here soon. We will do them up!” 

“You’re all right, Ned,” said Leigh, “if we don’t get 
a crack from that seven-inch Blakely in our boilers !” 

Crossing to the port battery, Leigh said : “Well, 
Anderson ?” 

“The next thing is the effusion of blood,” quietly re- 
marked the young commander of the port guns. 
“Pretty neat line, isn’t it? Remember what you’re 
fighting for, men !” cried Anderson, making the only 
speech of his life. 

On the quarterdeck, for a thrilling half hour, a grim 
silence reigned, as Captain Winslow, with his glasses 
at his eyes, gazed upon the buoys and landmarks : 
“We’re far enough out now, Thornton,” he calmly 
said. “ Steer right for the Alabama! Keep close in 
under her stern, bringing starboard to bear on star- 
board.” 

They were seven miles out now, with a strong tide 
setting to seaward, and the French ironclad and the 


SPECIAL ORDERS TOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 1 65 

yacht Deerhound soon sheered off as the Kearsarge , 
at full speed, raced down swiftly on her enemy. 

Three hundred hearts madly ticked off the seconds, 
as the mile between the grim antagonists soon lessened 
to nine hundred yards. 

Raphael Semmes had made his last speech to his 
crew, when the sixty thousand spectators on the cliffs, 
with dry lips, murmured : “What are they waiting 
for?” 

Then, the lightnings leaped out of the starboard side 
of the corsair, and with an almost simultaneous roar, 
three broadside hurtled toward the Kearsarge! 

Only the rigging of the Kearsarge was damaged 
when Winslow said: “Sink her in an hour, now, 
Thornton ! Give her a first ranging shot, and then, a 
full broadside!” 

It was the oldest man in Preble’s battery who pulled 
the first lanyard, and the Kearsarge crew yelled as the 
splinters flew from the Alabama's sides. 

Then came the deafening roar of the broadside, 
when the smoke had cleared away, showing the Ala- 
bama reeling! 

Sheering away, the Alabama then worked her guns 
with lightning rapidity. But their firing was desper- 
ately wild and high. Kells was forcing the fight to 
bring down Winslow’s main mast. Both ships were 
now working their starboard batteries with feverish 
haste, the notes of the key bugle on the Kearsarge' s 
forecastle gaily ringing out the immortal battle hymn, 
the “Red, White and Blue !” 

The marines clustered like bees around the pivot 
gun, and the eleven-inch Dahlgrens bellowed their 
deathly notes. 

Bor ng in, right under the stern of the Southerner, 
Winslow soon forced his enemy into a circular path, 
and enveloped in smoke clouds, broken only by the red 
flashes of the guns, the two vessels fighting to the 
death, slowlv drifted seawards with the outsetting tide. 

l ike death knells, the thundering cannonade deaf- 
ened the ears of the cowering crowds on shore as the 
hour of noon approached. 

Seven times, the two ships had circled each other, 


1 66 SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 

with no appreciable result so far, save that no dead 
bodies strewed the decks of the Kearsarge. 

The cool men were working Captain Winslow’s guns 
with the superb deliberation of second habit, and the 
stern Captain grimly smiled, as Thornton said: “We 
are sailing all around her now !” 

“I see it !’’ laconically said Winslow. “Keep right in 
under her stern ! We’ll fight her all the way to Eng- 
land!” 

The firing of the Alabama grew slower and wilder 
as Jasper Leigh, turning to Captain Winslow, said 
quietly : “She is settling at the stern, Sir ! You’ve got 
her now !” 

“You’re right !” gravely replied Winslow, “there she 
goes for shelter ! That’s his only chance now !” 

The Alabama winded slowly, breaking out her fore 
trysail, and two jibs, heading but feebly for the French 
shore, now eleven long miles away. 

Wild yells of triumph rang out on the Kearsarge as 
Preble and Anderson, fiercely cried : “Fire low ; fire 
low, and mind your guns !” 

Only two port guns of the corsair were now pre- 
sented to the Kearsarge, and the Alabama dragged 
slowly along toward the neutral line of safety. 

“She will never make it ! We have still three 
leagues of fighting ground !” was Thornton’s only 
remark. 

“Give her grape, now, Mr. Thornton !” Winslow di- 
rected, with his eyes glued upon his staggering enemy. 

Along the shore, a mournful cry rang out. One of 
the combatants was creeping shorewards! 

“Which one? Oh, God!” gasped Morton. “Be with 
us through this day!” 

The Kearsarge leaped along now at full speed, cut- 
ting the Alabama off from the harbor as the grape shot 
scourged the decks and rigging of the shattered South- 
ern cruiser. 

After a few more guns, the flag which Semmes had 
carried over the sea world, suddenly disappeared. 

The Kearsarge' s men stopped firing then, as a wiute 
flag fluttered from the stern of the crippled enemy, 


SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 1 67 

now sinking low in the water with her bow unnaturally 
elevated. 

“Cease firing !” quietly said John A. Winslow, with 
his face glowing with a sailor’s pride, as the Kearsarge 
was laid right across the Alabama s bow to rake her 
desperate enemy. 

Suddenly, the two port guns of the Alabama re- 
opened their fire. 

“Some desperate fools!” growled Winslow. “Give 
her the whole broadside !” 

“They are waving their white flag and lowering 
their boats, Sir,” reported Leigh. 

“Hold your fire, then!” calmly said Captain Wins- 
low, as the Kearsarge, with every gun doubly shotted, 
swept along to within two hundred yards of the fast 
sinking ship. 

A small boat now drifted alongside with a Southern 
officer, who cried : “We have surrendered, and are 
now fast sinking!” 

“Lower all the boats, Mr. Thornton!” cried Wins- 
low. “Keep every other gun’s crew still at the bat- 
teries. Save the drowning men !” 

Jasper Leigh, at a nod, sprang to his duty, and fif- 
teen minutes later was aiding in hauling in the men 
who had thrown themselves into the sea. 

The Alabama s bow was now high up in the air, her 
bright copper showing, and her escaping steam wildly 
roaring. 

The sea was all covered with wreckage and con- 
fusedly struggling men, and the approaching English 
yacht and two French pilot boats were also busied in 
picking up the feebly struggling men. 

It was just twenty minutes after the surrender, 
when the coxswain cried to Jasper Leigh : “My God, 
there she goes, Sir! Half her people are on board 
yet !” 

Jasper Leigh was firmly clinging to a half drowned 
man, as with a convulsive shudder, the Scourge of the 
Seas suddenly sank, stern foremost, the bow pitching 
high in air, and her mainmast going by the board with 
a resounding crash ! 

Swung in the wild whirlpool, Commander Leigh 

clpng to the drowning wretch in his iron grip. With 


1 63 SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 

the aid of three men, he pulled in the completely ex- 
hausted man. 

“Henri!” gasped Leigh, as he held up the head of 
the helpless captive. 

It was indeed the game young Louisianian, and his 
helpless head lay on Leigh’s hand as the cutter was 
pulled away to the victorious Kearsarge, now panting 
like a sea horse. 

“To my own cabin!” commanded Leigh. “This 
poor fellow is a relative of mine !” 

“By Jove! it’s that mad cap Villeroi!” cried Ned 
Preble, rushing away for some brandy. 

“Leigh !” the gay battery commander cried, “we’re 
going ashore to eat that fancy dinner! Our officers 
have made all up a purse to pay the French landlord !” 

In Leigh’s cabin, Morton, with the Commander, 
watched over Henri Villeroi, who had received a deep 
flesh wound from a flying splinter. 

“But for the smart of the salt water closing his 
wound, he would have bled to death,” said the Sur- 
geon, happy in only having the wounded enemy to 
attend. 

“Where am I?” cried Villeroi, as he at last slowly 
opened his eyes. “Where’s my ship?” 

Leigh and Morton then bent over him in pity and he 
read the answer in their eyes. 

“And now, Monsieur Henri, do you think you can 
stand a trip to Paris?” asked Leigh. 

The wounded man flushed crimson. 

“You are paroled as my distant relative,” said Leigh. 
“I am to take you home with me to America, and you 
will have only a nominal confinement at Elmira, thanks 
to that flying splinter. Your sword, I have begged for 
you as you had slung it over vour shoulder.” 

“This is the work of God !” gravely said Morton. 
“Let Mrs. Van Revnegom take Felicie also over with 
you. She can stay near Henri, and so, placate old Gen- 
eral Villeroi.” 

“By Jove, it’s a good idea !” cried Leigh. “I can give 
you my house !” 

Two davs later, Felicie Villeroi smiled upon the lov- 

ing faces of the two men bending over her. 


SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 1 69 

“We are all going home together, next week!” said 
Henri gaily. 

Before Jasper Leigh handed over his dispatches at 
the Brooklyn Navy Yard, America was wild with a 
frenzy of joy over the Kearsarge’s gallant battle. A 
monster bonfire blazed on the rugged old New Hamp- 
shire mountain which had given its name to the victor, 
and the embarrassed Winslow leisurely steering home- 
ward, was doomed to face a complication of dinners 
and public addresses calculated to kill even the toughest 
sailor. 

But, oh, the joy of those quiet days on the Atlantic, 
when Jasper Leigh leaned over Felicie Villeroi’s chair, 
for in all the golden gleams of the western sunset 
skies, there was now no black shadow of parting from 
the woman whom the strangest fates had made his 
own ! 


CHAPTER XII. 

“this will be our last parting!” 

I 

It was on the tenth of July, sixty-four, that Jasper 
Leigh conveyed his strangely assorted companions to 
the cool shades of the stately old Brevoort House, and 
then hastened away to the Brooklyn Navy Yard. 

Everett Morton and Lieutenant Villeroi were left 
in charge of the ladies, while Mrs. Van Reynegom 
convoyed Miss Villeroi to her own family headquar- 
ters, the paroled Confederate officer hastened away 
a long telegraphic dispatch addressed to Miss Adele 
Greenleaf, Baltimore, Maryland. 

Henri’s interesting paleness still marked his classic 
features, and in the queer Parisian cut civilian garb, 
he looked anything but a formidable pirate. 

Tt was easy for both the young men to see that the 
nation was now reeling on, blood drunken, to a hor- 
rible victory. 

Attrition and exhaustion alone were wearing out the 
dauntless gray lines of the still defiant Confederates. 


170 SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 

Leigh, on his way to Wallabout Bay, Morton, and, 
even Henri, shuddered in horror over the records of 
this dreadful battle summer. 

The Wilderness, Spottsylvania and Cold Harbor ! 
Awful memories of immortal valor and a frightfully 
useless bloodshed. 

One hundred thousand of the “Yankees who 
wouldn’t fight” still lay, buried or unburied, between 
the Rapidan and Petersburg — sixty thousand irre- 
placable Confederate veterans faced their foes in the 
long sleep of death, and only the iron grip of the 
matchless Sherman on Atlanta, cheered Leigh. 

In all other fields, paralysis and disorganization 
seemed to shame the weary flags of the Union. 

Grant, now really a military dictator, had finally 
taken his place as a “blood letter,” with Attila and Na- 
poleon Bonaparte. 

Warned by a midshipman messenger waiting at the 
boat, Commander Leigh was prepared to meet Assist- 
ant Secretary Fox at the Navy Yard. 

“Great God, what a change!” said Leigh. The ex- 
hausted official was gaunt and haggard. 

When his dispatches were handed 'Over, Leigh lis- 
tened to the Secretary’s stern words. “Blood wasted 
in Virginia has drowned all our rejoicings over the 
sinking of the Alabama , Leigh,” Fox sadly said, “but 
your reward comes later. Our unfinished task is yet 
before us. The sealing of Mobile is to be the Navy’s 
last great work. Grant will soon have a division of 
veterans storm Fort Fisher, for, we must close up the 
Confederacy’s two last ports. Charleston and Savan- 
nah will fall of themselves when Sherman sweeps 
past Atlanta to the sea. They can not be defended 
from the land side. I can only give to you a half 
hour. I am sending down four heavy iron clads — 
the Tecumseh, Manhattan, Winnebago , and Chicka- 
saw to Farragut at Mobile. The rebels have just 
brought down from Dog River the huge iron 
monster, Tennessee, built on greatly improved lines of 
the Merrimac, and she’s a boat that’s been tested at the 
closest range with ten-inch chilled shot. With any 
man but David (dascoe Farragut in command, l 


SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 1 7 I 

should fear for the final result. But with these four 
heavy monitors and his fourteen powerful wooden 
ships, Farragut can now be trusted to meet the intrepid 
Franklin Buchanan and his four formidable accom- 
panying boats, even aided with the severe fire of the 
forts. Do you know Mobile Harbor?” 

“Every sand bar and sounding,” firmly replied 
Leigh. “I was six months on coast survey duty there, 
triangulating all the harbor approaches.” 

“Just the man; just the man!” cried Fox, in glee. 
“I will send you down on a dispatch boat to Farragut, 
with the last orders — a few specially selected expert 
gunners, and some late secret charts, which we bought 
of a renegade Polish Captain of Engineers, a deserter 
from General Maury. It will be your last fight in this 
war. For, Sherman will soon wreck the Confederacy, 
while Thomas holds Hood at bay, and Grant clutches 
Lee’s throat at Petersburg.” 

“I will cheerfully go to Mobile,” gravely said Leigh, 
“but, I must have a week for my private affairs.” 

“Impossible !” cried Fox. 

“My heart, my future, my honor are involved,” per- 
sisted Leigh. “I have had neither leave nor recogni- 
tion so far. I only ask this. Then I’ll cheerfully die, 
if needs be, leading Farragut in, as his pilot.” 

Fox gazed on the young man’s agitated face. “I’ll 
make it just five days!” he said. “The Bat , the swift- 
est thing afloat, will leave here at eight o’clock, five 
days from to-day. Be all ready on board of her ! I will 
come back here to secretly dispatch her. Now, Sir, 
what can I do for you ? Ask me for anything !” 

Ten minutes later, Leigh had in his pocket an official 
order paroling Lieutenant Henri Villeroi, C. S. N., 
with the limits of the town of Elmira, New York. 

“You can forward to me personally, his signed 
parole. Keep the young devil on land, that’s all. As 
for General Aristide Villeroi, I will have Secretary 
Stanton on your official guarantee of the old fugitive’s 
severe wounds and failing health, parole him, also, so 
that his nephew can nurse him up. He may as well be 
out of the Elmira prison pen. He will be inspected 
weekly by a surgeon, just to let Stanton know he is 


IT 2 SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 

there. For, Villeroi is like ‘Tiger’ Cabell, Patsey Cle- 
burne, Forrest and a few others, far too dangerous to 
be at liberty.” 

“I’m happy now,” said Leigh, and then he briefly 
gave to Fox all Henri Villeroi’s story of the fight. “It 
was the eleven-inch Dahlgren shells which did the real 
work. One of them disabled a gun and killed eighteen 
men, another at last burst in the coal bunkers and com- 
pletely disabled the engines, filling the whole engine 
room with displaced coal. They ripped through the 
Alabama's sides as if they were made of paper!” 

“Good ; good !” thoughtfully cried Fox, “this proves 
the wisdom of sly old Farragut. His plan is to have 
the whole fleet gather around the Tennessee , and while 
the wooden ships all butt and ram her, the four moni- 
tors are to shoot into her ports at pistol range, hammer 
away at her stem and stern, and try to make the inte- 
rior untenable. If Farragut does not at once over- 
whelm the Tennessee she will try to sink our ships one 
by one. She has the weight — the speed — and knows 
the deep water to manoeuvre in. She can thus choose 
her fighting ground. Tell all this to Farragut! You 
shall be his confidential aide.” 

“And, the war on the sea?” anxiously asked Leigh. 

“Our merchant ships are all in hiding, or driven 
from the open ocean. The trade of pirate is not as 
profitable as it was,” added Fox, with a bitter laugh. 
“Semmes will not get another ship easily. We have in 
plain terms, notified England and France, that if the 
two Laird rams and the two French iron clads, El 
Tousson and El Monassir go out, it will be made a 
casus belli. Mason and Slidell °re, at last, left penni- 
less, thank God. The Chicamauga and Tallahassee are 
both driven into Wilmington. They will be later cap- 
tured there.” 

“We ran the Florida down by a trick, and sunk her, 
by a pardonable fraud later. The Niagara, by a lucky 
fluke, has captured the troublesome Georgia, All the 
others are now finished off save the Olustee and the 
Shenandoah, Waddell has cleared off to the East In- 
dies with the last. God knows what he is nn to ! The 
only thing that I fear is the iron clad Stonewall. She 


SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 1 73 

is a strong sea-going iron clad, and France has 
just turned her over apparently to Denmark. If the 
rebels get her, unless the Confederacy collapses sud- 
denly, we may be shamed abroad, for she is able to 
handle any ship we have on the open sea. But the fall 
of Wilmington and Mobile will soon end all. The Con- 
federacy will not then last three months. Though 
Gorgas gives them all the needed powder, we know se- 
cretly that the Confederates have not load enough for 
even a short campaign. They are picking up bullets on 
all the battlefields now ! You see, now, why we have 
so sternly held Missouri. To keep the lead mines there 
out of the Confederate hands. Clothes, medicines, gun 
caps, a hundred essentials, these brave rebels sorely 
need now. The Trans-Mississippi and Mexican sup- 
plies are at last cut off. When Sherman swings 
through the granary of the South, he will not leave a 
factory, a mill or a growing crop behind him. In spite 
of all our colossal blunders, the war is slowly coming 
to an end.” 

Six months later, Leigh recalled the words of Fox, 
when in a last agony of supreme effort, Lincoln ordered 
a final draft of five hundred thousand men in the 
spring of sixty-five. 

The dreaded shame had fallen on the Navy when the 
defiant rebel iron clad Stonewall, sailing up and 
down before Corunna, flaunting her battle flags 
openly, taunted the feeble-hearted commander of 
the superb U. ' S. frigate Niagara to come out 
and fight. The resulting court-martial but lightly 
scored a man whom England would have shot at once 
on his own quarterdeck. 

And so, the Confederate sea-going Navy won its 
laurels boldly. For, the Stonewall braved us later even 
in Havana harbor, and was turned over undefeated 
to the Spaniards, at the collapse, surrendered then 
to us and sold to Japan, justifying her commander’s 
confidence by a splendid later career of twenty years. 

The genius and seamanship of Semmes and his sage 
counsels, also directed James Iredell Waddell in the 
transformed Sea King, the fierce Shenandoah , to enter 


174 SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 

the only field where scattered American ships could be 
effectively reached. 

Drake never made a more daring cruise than this 
stern North Carolinian, who, leaving Liverpool, swung 
out into lonely seas, reached Melbourne, Australia, and 
in the thirteen months of a wild raid under the icy 
Arctic circle, burned thirty-two Yankee vessels, de- 
stroyed our whole Pacific whaling fleet and added six 
millions to the expense account ! 

Boldly steering homeward, it was only after Lee’s 
surrender, that Waddell, within forty miles of San 
Francisco, from a captured schooner, obtained the offi- 
cial news of the last act in the tragedy of the nation. 

And then, the wild cormorant slanted her sea worn 
wings for Liverpool. Triumphantly turning his ship 
over to the English Government, Waddell sheathed 
his still bloodless sword, and returned to San Fran- 
cisco, to accept a high position in the “Pacific Mail,” 
at the hands of men who stood aghast at the reckless 
daring of the freebooter. 

When Commander Leigh reached the Brevoort 
House, he found both Henri and his beautiful cousin, 
enraptured over the receipt of a dispatch from Miss 
Adele Greenleaf. “She will be with us to-morrow 
night,” whispered Henri, with a strange joy lighting 
up his dark eyes. 

Jasper Leigh’s resolution was rapidly formed. He 
knew now of all the good works of the Baltimore heir- 
ess, who had been called “the Angel of the Confed- 
eracy.” 

Judge Greenleaf’s only child had poured out her 
wealth to relieve the suffering of her own people, and 
only busied in works of mercy, she was persona grata 
even at Washington. 

Leigh gazed fondly at her picture, a blue-eyed, gol- 
den-haired goddess of stately mien. That Henri had 
gained this fair woman’s heart seemed to be only a 
triumph stolen in the very gates of Sorrow. 

“She will make a good jailer for you, young man,” 
pithily said the Commander. “Now you and I must 
use both her and Felicie to finally vanquish General 
Villeroi’s insane prejudice against the Northerners. I 


SPfiCtAL ORDERS P6k COMMANDER LEIGH. 175 

have a little business at the Sub-Treasury. Then I will 
take the train to Elmira. Here is your formal parole. 
Sign it now ! I will soon have the order for General 
Villeroi’s enlargement on parole there. Fox has tele- 
graphed to Stanton for it. I will then arrange my 
house for your use. Mrs. Van Reynegom can con- 
duct you there, en chaperon, and Miss Greenleaf can 
easily persuade the old General tnat she herself has 
hired the mansion for your summer refuge, and to re- 
lieve both of you from the restraint of the Elmira 
stockade. Exchange is impossible! Ould and Davis 
have locked horns with General Fry and Lincoln. 
Hoodwink the grim old veteran. I will conceal all the 
memorials of the Leigh family ! Mrs. Eaton, my family 
representative there, is a most discreet woman, and I 
will meet General Villeroi only as ‘Mr. Charles Mason.’ 
In this way he will not be enraged at the hateful name 
of Jasper Leigh, U. S. Navy.” 

“The final outcome?” doubtfully queried Henri 

“I must save all these imperiled estates,” resolutely 
replied Jasper. “Armytage writes me that an Assist- 
ant Commissioner of the Freedmen’s bureau is coming 
down there to condemn the whole three estates. I can ; 
I will ; I must stop it ! Fox will do anything possible. 
I leave you in five days.” 

“To go where?” asked Henri. 

“Let Felicie believe that I am only ordered to Wash- 
ington to settle accounts and make all my secret serv- 
ice and ordnance reports. That is all I can tell you,” 
replied Leigh gently. “Once that this tough job is 
over, I’ll write and tell her all. I’vj had no leave since 
the outbreak of the war. When my present mission is 
fulfilled, I’ll join Elise and Armytage and save the 
property which is now almost in the wolves’ clutches. 
Will you keep my secret?” 

“To the death!” sadly returned Henri. “See here, 
old fellow. No headlong gallantry, and all that! It 
would simply kill Felicie if you were knocked over.” 

“You are a nice fellow to tell me that,” laughed 
Leigh. “I heard of your own daring tricks when the 
eleven-inch shells were riddling your paper Alabama . 
Some of your own gunners, our prisoners, told me of 


176 SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 

your loading the last port guns with your own hands/’ 
Whereat the young Confederate blushed and fell into 
a moody silence. 

‘‘General Villeroi must never know that Felicie has 
any funds,” gravely said Leigh. “I’ll fix you at the 
bank there, so you can handle his drafts on Paris. Let 
him believe that Adele Greenleaf is his real hostess. 
You can manage her ?” 

“I hope so,” brightly assented Henri, in some con- 
fusion. “I’ll do it anyway, for your sake. See here, if 
the old boy cuts up rough, go in and marry right out of 
hand. Let him get over the whole thing at once.” 

“Not until I have first saved your joint inheritance,” 
firmly replied Leigh. “The day that peace is declared, 
if I am alive, I will marry this darling girl, even if the 
whole Confederacy were arraigned against me.” 

“There’s not much left,” sighed the brilliant boy. 
“But, it was a pretty good old Confederacy !” 

And then, Leigh strangely dropped into slang, and 
vigorously remarked : “You bet it was ! The very 
liveliest kind of a Confederacy, too !” 

An hour later, to Leigh’s inexpressible joy, he 
learned at the Sub Treasury and Munroe’s Bank of the 
return of the banker lawyer, Sidney Houghton. 

“Mr. Houghton is now in Washington settling with 
the Comptroller of the Treasury,” said the official. “We 
expect him here in two days to deposit the foreign ex- 
change for his last successful loan. Telegraph him to 
bring your deposit up to you at Elmira, for we have 
now all the court’s necessary orders as to the dead 
Jarvis.” 

This effected, Jasper Leigh drove back to the Bre- 
voort, where until his train time, he judiciously 
moulded Felicie to his will by a last pardonable loving 
deceit. 

“It all seems so strange.” murmured the Magnolia 
beauty. “Mrs. Van Reynegom will, however, take us 
all up there, and then, go to her Saratoga villa. With 
Adele, I shall not be lonely, however, until you 
return from Washington. Leave General Villeroi 
to us. The tiger shall be gradually tamed, until we 
have all his claws clipped. Poor, old uncle, his spirit 


SPECIAL CODERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 1 77 

is broken, with the failure of a fifty-years’ plan to get 
the Southern Cross in the firmament of nations ! But, 
love will prevail at last.” 

Two days later, Jasper Leigh had carefully removed 
from his home every trace of his graceful mother’s 
identity, and Mrs. Eaton knew of the pious deception, 
which was to overcome General Villeroi’s hatred of the 
successful foeman. 

“It is to save a broken old man’s pride,” confided 
Leigh, “and I owe it to him, for the sake of the dear 
friends, who will control my home. I count upon your 
absolute secrecy. Mr. Houghton will represent me 
here in all.” 

With General Villeroi’s order of enlargement in his 
possession, Jasper Leigh awaited Sidney Houghton’s 
arrival with a wildly beating heart. The laconic dis- 
patch : “Coming with the papers. Will arrive to- 
morrow,” followed upon the arrival of the happy party 
from the Brevoort. 

A gracious cordiality had already made Mrs. Van 
Reynegom and Morton the willing slaves of Miss 
Adele Greenleaf, around whom, Henri Villeroi now 
hovered with a frank self surrender, most laughable 
in the case of a dashing young pirate. 

“See here, Villeroi ; I can excuse all your mad folly 
in your capture of the fair goddess,” said Leigh, in his 
approved fatherly manner, “but, I am sorry for Miss 
Greenleaf, however.” 

“Don’t you be sorry a bit,” vigorously replied Vil- 
leroi. “She is forfeited to me by all the rules of law. 
She sent me out on the Alabama, and said if I made 
the cruise in good shape and staid with the boat to the 
last, I could ask her for anything that I wanted. I have 
asked!” 

“Well, you young rascal, you did stay with the old 
boat to the last. You went down with her and tangled 
up in your uniform, and with your sword, five minutes 
more and you would have been a forfeit to the fishes or 
to the gods of the under world.” 

Leigh led Henri away into the library. “I will thor- 
oughly post Everett Morton and Mrs. Van Reynegom. 
They know me in my secret service character of ‘Mr, 


178 SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 

Charles Mason,’ the one in which I dodged you and 
Kells in Birkenhead. But you must school Felicie and 
Miss Greenleaf. Install her now as the one mistress 
of the house. Mrs. Eaton will take no other orders 
but her own. You will be only the fiscal agent. I have 
but one more day, and to-morow I will take you to the 
bank of Elmira. You are to keep open house here for 
me, and mark you, Miss Greenleaf is to be the queen 
bee of this hive. 

“Now, get over to the stockade, present this order 
of Secretary Stanton’s, see General Woodbridge, the 
Commandant, who will arrange for General Villeroi’s 
coming her to-morrow. I will thus meet him only 
casually at breakfast, as ‘Mr. Charles Mason, ’ a re- 
turned traveller from the Orient. On your calmness 
and nerve hangs all your fortune, Felicie’s inheritance 
and — my future happiness. Trust to me. Here is a 
confidential letter for General Woodbridge. You can 
explain to Aristide Villeroi that the Greenleafs have 
brought all this about through powerful Washington 
and Baltimore social friends. I have business all day 
with my lawyer. Not a hint to Felicie of my real des- 
tination. All hangs on that.” 

Jasper Leigh paced the portico in a haunting unrest, 
pondering over the arrival of Sidney Houghton on the 
morrow. The evening had been a happy one, for 
Lieutenant Villeroi returned in high spirits. 

“The General is strangely facile, ; he said. “Glad to 
escape all the disheartening surroundings. His wounds 
and his hardships have softened his acerbity, but,” he 
sighed, “the bitter animus against all things northern 
still hardens his heart. 

“He said : ‘Let me die, when Felicie is safely mar- 
ried to a man of Southern birth. Look at Elise ! Sold 
herself to the enemy.’ Whereat,” laughed Henri, “I 
explained to the old warrior what a gentle lion dear 
old Armytage is after all. And then he was somewhat 
appeased. Glad to know that he only sheds blood in 
his professional way, not as a Yankee butcher.” 

Both Felicie and Adele Greenleaf stole upon Leigh, 
to thank him for his delicacy in absenting himself while 


SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 1 79 

the worn Confederate veteran was installed as a guest 
of his own people. 

“I prophesy, Sir,” archly remarked Miss Greenleaf, 
“that you will be yet richly repaid for all your self- 
abnegation.” 

“I will be,” kindly said Jasper, “if you will promise 
me not to send Henri out on any more buccaneering 
raids. You made noise enough around the world and 
very nearly fired the Ephesian dome. I don’t think that 
we could stand another Alabama ” 

Miss Greenleaf s sapphire eves filled with tears. “We 
are fought to a finish,” she said. “Let the end come 
now soon in mercy, that an abiding peace may result, 
but oh, God, our gallant men !” 

“The whole land is sowed with graves,” sadly said 
Leigh. “God grant that these sad revenges of time 
may cease. It is the price paid for the awful past profits 
of slavery. We both are guilty, north and south, and 
so the hand of God is heavy on us.” 

At ten next morning, while Henri and Felicie had 
driven in Leigh’s carriage to the stockade to bring 
forth the aged General, Jasper Leigh silently grasped 
Sidney Houghton’s hands in the office of the solicitors. 

“After long delays,” said Houghton, as he handed 
Leigh the package. “You can have my private . office 
here and I can return them to the Sub-Treasury if you 
wish them stored.” 

“One moment,” said Leigh, and then he briefly laid 
down Houghton’s future course as to the innocent 
masquerade. 

“Miss Villeroi, the Lieutenant and Miss Greenleaf 
shall be as 'my own children,” promised the solicitor. 
“Depend on my dLcretion. Alas, that poor Jarvis car- 
ried so much to the grave with him. Look on me as 
your brother.” 

Left alone, Jasper Leigh feverishly tore open the 
pacquet with trembling hands. A yellowed marriage 
certificate and a picture fell out of the carefully en- 
veloped bundle of letters, and then a faint gasping cry 
called the watchful Sidney Houghton quickly into the 
roont 

Leigh was staggering as if he had received a death 


lSo SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 

wound. The quick-witted lawyer sharply rang his bell. 
To his associate, Miller, he cried : “Get me a glass of 
brandy, quick! Lock all the inner office doors. Send 
the young men all below in the Dank. The Commander 
is gravely ill !” 

Ten minutes later, Leigh gazed steadily into the eyes 
of the two lawyers. “Nothing — absolutely nothing,” 
he murmured. “Only a spasm from my old wound. 
Those fellows in the river gave me a pretty good re- 
membrance. The heat and fatigues of travel have sim- 
ply done me up.” 

But a pallor, not born of illness, whitened the brave 
officer’s cheeks. “I am unequal to the task to-day,” he 
faintly said. “Seal ah these things up and put the bun- 
dle in the safe. Let me just rest and see you do it. I 
will then put my own seals upon it.” 

“And then?” gravely asked Sidney Houghton. 

“Redeposit it in the United States Sub-Treasury to 
your order and my own. You see the last endorse- 
ment ‘To be burned unopened in the case of my 
death?’ ” 

“I do,” quietly replied Houghton. 

“I leave here this evening to join Farragut for the 
last desperate quest, the forcing of Mobile Bay. Keep 
this a secret from all. It would kill Miss Vifleroi !” 

“I understand,” sadly answered Houghton. “I will 
escort you down to New York, and take the package. 
You are not fit to be left alone.” 

The roll of wheels was heard, and Henri Villeroi 
then bounded up the stairway. 

“A perfect success,” he cried, and then he started 
back at the sight of Jasper Leigh’s face. “What has 
happened?” he crLd. 

“Nothing,” resolutely answered Leigh, but Sidney 
Houghton took the Confederate aside. 

“Take him home. He has had some sudden shock. 
Watch him as you would vour own life. Our country 
has too few such men. Trust me in all. I know all. 
Now, I will come to the mansion at nine, and will not 
leave him till he is at the Navy Yard. The strain of 
this forced adieu is killing him.” 

“When you see my cousin Felicie, I think you’ll 


SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. l8l 


easily understand all,” warmly cried Henri. “I owe 
him my life doubly, and, she, poor darling, is on the 
very verge of collapse. Her heart has pierced our 
kindly subterfuges, I fear. I am yours to the death for 
his sake.” 

On the way to the mansion, Jasper Leigh murmured 
feebly: “They must never know. The grist of the 
Gods ! The revenge of Time ! And, God give me his 
helping hand, now, to walk rightly !” 

As calmly resolute as if going under fire, Com- 
mander Leigh gravely faced the stern old Confederate, 
whose silver gray hair framed a Roman face. 

The faded Southern uniform, the bearing of the 
caged eagle, the piercing glance of the man born to 
command, all these betokened well the veteran who 
had so often led the “Louisiana Tigers” into the jaws 
of death. 

There was a hush as Miss Greenleaf said, in her 
grave, sweet voice, “General, let me present ‘Mr. 
Charles Mason/ the gentleman to whose kindness I am 
indebted for much of the courtesy shown you and for 
the selection of your residence here.” 

Aristide Villeroi gazed searchingly in Felicie’s 
startled face, and then looked around upon the aston- 
ished company. 

“Pardon me, I am not well,” said Leigh, as Felicie 
glided to his side. 

“Is this your residence, Sir?” quietly demanded the 
obdurate Confederate. 

“You are my guest, General,” calmly remarked Miss 
Greenleaf, laying her hand upon the excited veteran’s 
arm. “This is my own household. And this house is 
your own, while you honor it !” 

There was a pause in which Mrs. Van Reynegom 
and Everett Morton exchanged anxious glances. 

The service of the breakfast was at once announced, 
but General Villeroi sat as if spellbound, gazing at 
Jasper Leigh, whose eyes now sought Henri’s in a 
vague appeal. 

“I knew many Masons, Sir,” tentatively remarked 
the veteran. “Are you from the North ?” The words 
were chilling in their hauteur. 


'1 82 SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 

“I am a Southern man,” quietly replied Jasper, with 
his sad eyes unflinchingly meeting the old warrior’s 
gaze. 

“I knew it ; I knew it ! God bless you, my boy !” 
cried the overjoyed veteran. “There is something in 
your face that is strangely familiar. You’ll tell me all 
by and by. 1 would take no favor from a Yankee — 
you are true blue !” 

“I am forced to leave for New York to-night,” said 
Jasper Leigh, speaking in a strangely muffled voice. 
“But, I will see you later. I am called away on the 
most important business.” 

The astonished listeners gazed on each other until 
Miss Greenleaf broke the spell. “We will all yet break 
bread together in peace and amity some day !” she soft- 
ly said. 

In the hour that followed, Jasper Leigh hardly raised 
his eyes to the beautiful face at his side. But Felicie 
and Henri gazed at each other in a frank amazement. 
The exhaustion of tired nature came to their relief at 
last. 

“Remember, General, Doctor Woodhull’s orders. 
You are to have your daily siesta, from two until five.” 

“We must have a long talk, Sir,” said the eagle-eyed 
old rebel, addressing Jasper. “I know every Mason 
south of the line,” he murmured. “All of them, true 
men. I can easily fancy why you aided Miss Green- 
leaf.” 

The hands of the two men met, and the General 
sprang back as if he had received an electric shock. 
“Yes, yes, his face is familiar! Old friends come back 
to me — faces long since passed away. We must talk 
long together.” 

When the house was stilled, after Henri and Miss 
Greenleaf had assigned the weakened prisoner to a fair 
upper chamber, Felicie Villeroi led Jasper Leigh into 
the dim library. None of the anxious ones ever knew 
the secrets of the heart wrenching adieu of the hapless 
lovers. 

“He will never consent! Never!” sobbed Felicie. 

And then Jasper Leigh crushed her to his breast. 
“Ask me nothing now, my own brave darling. Trust 


SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 1 83 

to Heaven. To that golden-haired angel Adele Green- 
leaf. This will be our last parting! And I go only to 
save your heritage, Henri’s birthright, and even the 
patrimony of dear Elise Armytage. All, all is now in 
the wolves’ clutches. May God shield your beloved 
head till I can claim you. Be brave at our parting. Do 
not betray yourself. For, the General is lynx-eyed. 
The man who has looked death so often in the face, 
sees with the second sight of the self-devoted hero !” 

It was a gift of the gods, the opportune arrival of 
Sidney Houghton as a guest at dinner, whereat Gen- 
eral Villeroi was enjoined by courtesy from following 
out the genealogies of the Masons of the Southland. 

Quick-witted and loyal, Adele Greenleaf had sent 
Henri to bring the solicitor to dine with them. “Some- 
thing has happened, Henri,” cried Adele, during a brief 
mysterious disappearance into the shadows of Henri 
Villeroi’s loving arms. 

“Two only know of the secret, Jasper Leigh, and this 
grave lawyer,” mused Henri. “But God is good !” We 
must placate General Villeroi. Poor Felicie’s tender 
eyes have given half the secret to the old fire-eater. 
Thank God that Jasper soon goes away. We can easily 
handle the General. We will smother him with loving 
kindness.” 

But Henri Villeroi gravely asked: “Did you hear 
Leigh say: T am a Southern man.’ That remark 
haunts me. ’ 

“I will haunt you,” cried Adele Greenleaf, closing 
his lips with a rosy hand. “Keep quiet. All’s fair in 
love and war. And Jasper and Felicie shall be man 
and wife, or ” 

“Or what?” anxiously said Henri. 

“Or, you will go wifeless through the world, Sir. 
For I will not permit you, you hear it, permit you, to 
marry any one else — and I will not marry you if you 
bungle this dangerous love making of theirs! I find 
General Villeroi so far to be a very sleek, but quite un- 
tameable old tiger of the royal race,” and then having 
silenced Henri with several volunteered kisses, a golden 
surprise, Miss Greenleaf had proceeded to give full 
sailing directions to the dark-eyed Felicie. 


184 SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 

With ceaseless courtesy the Baltimore heiress so en- 
veloped General Villeroi with her charming ways, that 
the delighted veteran forgot the strangeness of Miss 
Felicie and Henri going to the train with Mr. Charles 
Mason. 

“Fine fellow, that Mason,” unsuspiciously cried the 
deceived veteran, as he was aided to his room by the 
colored valet, brought i 1 by Miss Greenleaf, “I must 
make him tell me all about nis people when he returns.” 

Under the pitying stars, Jasper Leigh had mur- 
mured: “This is our last parting!” while Felicie’s 
brave heart beat against his own, and then — seated in 
the swaying railway carriage, he muttered : “Silence 
to the last ! Loyal a la mort ! They must never know !” 


CHAPTER XIII. 

THE BATTLE OF MOBILE BAY. 

Before Sidney Houghton left Jasper Leigh at the 
Brooklyn Navy Yard, the lawyer thoroughly under- 
stood the Commander’s wishes as to the hoodwinking 
of General Villeroi. 

“Stern, unyielding old patrician !” said Jasper. 
“His food would choke him if he knew that he was a 
guest in a northern man’s house. And so, for the sake 
of these two brilliant children, I have tried to muzzle 
him so as to save the great estates.” 

When Leigh had given Houghton all the details of 
the changes surrounding the river estates and the vast 
property in New Orleans of Judge Villeroi, Houghton 
mused awhile. “These absurd decrees of confiscation 
and expropriation are a part of the rash brutality of 
the northern bureaucrats. You know well that no at- 
tainder is possible under our constitution. General 
Villeroi may have properly forfeited his life interest 
by his ‘Experiments in Confederacy building.’ Even 
that may be cured later by a sweeping amnesty, but 
you must get these innocent heirs to boldly claim and 
take these three great properties. Banks down there at 


SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 185 

New Orleans is a 'freedom shrieker/ and he will per- 
mit anything.” 

“Alas,” returned Leigh. “Henri Villeroi is es- 
pecially singled out for the ‘lex talionis.’ His career 
on the Alabama , his awkward status as an ex-U. S. 
Naval officer, makes him more ineligible to claim and 
take than even the old warrior.” 

“Miss Villeroi?” demanded Houghton. 

“She deliberately left the Union lines, went as a 
registered enemy to Mobile — she has been a star of 
the Confederate colony in Paris, and is now decidedly 
persona non grata ” 

“Then,” mournfully said the counsellor, “the es- 
tates are lost for the present until a later generation 
may restore them, pillaged and worthless to the inno- 
cent sprigs of rebellion. Secession, after all, is a costly 
pastime. Can you not find an innocent heir in the di- 
rect line? How as to this charming Madame Elise?” 

“Ah, she is only the sister of Justine Chouteau of 
Le Bocage, the mother of Miss Felicie Villeroi. The 
properties are all of the Villeroi family’s own title, for 
Aristide paid off a three-quarter of a million mortgage 
on Le Bocage due to Colonel Choteau’s penchant for 
the pleasures of Paris, racing at the Metairie Course, 
and his stubborn views on Poker.” 

“Leigh,” suddenly said Houghton, “an immediate 
marriage with Miss Villeroi is the only thing which 
will secure her rights. You, as the husband, under 
the Parish laws, could remove her present legal in- 
capacity. It is the only way!” 

“Am I the man to force a helpless woman into my 
arms? Never!” cried Leigh. “And General Villeroi 
swears that his niece shall never marry a northern man. 
He is a fanatic.” 

“Then, Sir, the foul wolves of the Freedman’s Bu- 
reau gang will soon swallow up the whole. It is no 
time to let a fantastic sense of honor doom these young 
people to beggary. Find an innocent heir or else 
marry this delightful girl. These are your labors of 
Hercules !” 

By a lucky chance. Assistant Secretary Fox had ten 
minutes to give to the great lawyer, who had placed 


1 86 SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 

fifty millions of the sorely needed Government 
loans. 

“I will hold hard, for Leigh’s sake, on these im- 
periled estates,” said Fox. “Attorney General Speed 
and Secretary of the Interior Usher will give me a 
year’s appeal on the decisions of Banks’ underlings. 
There’s a bad lot gathered about the Ex-Speaker down 
there. They hunger for the flesh pots of Egypt. But 
of what avail all this, when this fine fellow may lose 
hi p life and also this beautiful bride to be. He is go- 
ing away on a dangerous quest, to pilot Farragut’s 
Hartford into Mobile Bay. The Tennessee is waiting 
there, a trebly strong Merrimac, with Franklin Bu- 
chanan armed with the three days’ experience of rip- 
ping our fleet to pieces in Hampton Roads.” 

“Let us work together,” earnestly said the lawyer. 
“Leigh has left this dear girl every cent he has, in all 
three hundred thousand dollars.” 

“I only hope to live to make him a Captain of the 
U. S. Navy, and then he shall have a year’s leave for 
the honeymoon,” cried Fox. “Next summer the Con- 
federacy will only be a gallant but dreadful memory. 
For with the fall or sealing up of Wilmington and 
Mobile, the south will soon be literally starved out. 
Sherman is lancing the heart of the south remorse- 
lessly, and Grant, that inscrutable man, is wielding the 
hammer of Thor. The end must soon come !” 

Secretary Fox, with a trembling voice, said, as the 
graceful Bat slowly swung her head down stream: 
“Leigh, ask anything you care of me, after you have 
passed those forts and finished off the Tennessee. 
We’ve sent Farragut a lot of specially forged steel and 
wrought iron bolts and round shot, and your eleven 
inch shell tactics will aid him. Go, and God bless you ! 
Houghton and I will watch over your interests as well 
as that bright eyed Confederate witch. There’s a year’s 
wedding leave and a new commission, one that puts 
eagles on your shoulders, hung up for you.” 

Houghton whispered : “Leave me to handle the old 
planter Villeroi. He will be a tame tiger when vou 
see him next. I think that golden haired queen, Miss 
Greenleaf, will fool him to the top of his bent. There’s 


SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 187 

magic in her sapphire eyes. She will make young 
Henri Villeroi’s life a varied romance. A stately crea- 
tion of fire and flame! The Confederate women have 
been the rebels’ tower of strength. Who could with- 
stand the scorn of such eyes? Now, your papers will 
be in Sub-Treasury in an hour. The young people 
shall be my secret allies. As for Morton and his aunt, 

I am glad to say he is soon to go as First Secretary to 
St. Petersburg and she to return to her stately home 
at Saratoga.” 

Before dark, the Bat was being driven smartly off 
Barnegat, the beautiful captured blockade runner run- 
ning madly with a bone in her teeth. 

Jasper Leigh sternly sat down to a week’s study of 
the charts of Mobile Bay, while, at Elmira, with a 
wistful sorrow in her eyes, Felicie Villeroi hugged 
her sweet secret to her innocent bosom. 

General Villeroi’s easily-aroused suspicions had been 
diverted by the opportune disappearance of “Mr. 
Charles Mason” and the sly Adele Greenleaf led him 
into an exhaustive study of the wanderings of the 
Alabama. 

“We li^ve destroyed twenty-five millions of Yankee 
property with a half dozen cruisers,” proudly cried the 
old General, now at ease in the stately mansion. 
“But England and France have at last deserted us. 
Time servers. We can give them no more cotton. 
'Trust not for freedom to the Franks. They have a 
King who buys and sells/ Louis Napoleon is a most 
monumental liar. Even England pauses ! Semmes 
will not get a new ship. Our last desperate chance is 
that Franklin Buchanan may force Farragut to with- 
draw his wooden vessels. If the Stonewall can only 
get over there and join him, she can defiantly patrol 
the entrance. Mobile is our last open port, for Grant 
will scatter Lee’s weak army and fall on Fort Fisher 
with an army corps. It must soon fall. Lee has no 
men to replace the veterans who died at Gettysburg. 
But if we can send twenty millions of cotton out from 
Mobile, and get supplies in there. Forrest may keep the 
Gulf States another year for us. Mobile is our last 


1 88 SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 

place of arms, the very ‘Broad Stone of Honor/ God 
speed the fearless Buchanan/’ 

But, day by day, General Villeroi returned to the 
genealogy of the Masons. “I like that young fellow’s 
face. You can’t deceive me. He shows the marks of 
dangerous service. And I know, I feel, that he is a 
friend in disguise. Did he not say that he was a 
southern man ! That man is no liar !” 

And then, the three fond conspirators exchanged 
glances of mingled doubt and fear. 

But, on the Bat, now sweeping on to Key West, 
Jasper Leigh, walking the decks, mused over the old 
time curse hanging over La Belle Etoile. “Thank God 
even for this grim special duty. I could not long 
deceive General Villeroi. The curse of slavery has 
brought sorrow enough to Justine Chouteau’s son, and 
to my own brave hearted darling. She must never 
know. The dark gulf of slavery divides us. On my 
head, let the revenges of Time fall — on mine alone.” 

Only one golden gleam lit up these gray days. 

Leigh knew from Secretary Fox of the reports of 
the now energetic spies in England. Raphael Semmes, 
duly wined and dined, the recipient of silver cups, 
votive swords, and much hysteric worship, could not 
get control of either of the heavy iron clads now 
moored off Laird’s yards. For even Earl Russell now 
had an inkling of the inevitable end. Charles Francis 
Adams was calmly holding out his little unpaid bill for 
the indiscretion of the “290,” the fierce Alabama, and 
one or two other little items. Seward’s frank remon- 
strances now took on a sterner tone, and the sly Louis 
Napoleon was sadly embroiled in Mexico. 

Commander Jasper Leigh, U. S. N., was busied be- 
yond all possible ennui on the Bat, in consultation with 
the expert gunners, and the score of young officers 
specially detailed for the destruction of the Tennessee. 

The sly Polish Captain traitor had sold to the Navy 
Department a minute professional description of the 
Tennessee, and the terror of Dos: River had been cruis- 
ing in Mobile Bay since the seventeenth of March. 
Every curve and sounding of the harbor was known 
to the adroit Buchanan, who now only waited for the 


SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 1S9 

Huntsville and Tuscaloosa to be finished to vigorous- 
ly attack Farragut and openly try to raise the blockade, 
after destroying the Federal fleet before the arrival of 
the dreaded Yankee monitors. 

The Pole’s sketch showed the Tennessee as a gi- 
gantic iron plated craft of two hundred and nine feet 
in length, forty-eight feet broad, drawing but fourteen 
feet, so she could range everywhere in the whole bay 
with its depth of fourteen to seventeen, while Farra- 
gut’s heavy vessels drawing over twenty feet could not 
manoeuver freely, the bar only showing twenty-one feet 
at its very deepest channel. The leviathan’s sides were 
eight feet thick and plated with four inches of 
obliquely laid railroad iron. She had enormous arm- 
ored port hole shutters — her iron casements were six 
inches thick and they deeply overhung the weak joining 
of the hull and superstructure. 

Both the armored pilot tower and fighting turret had 
she, and two magnificent independent high pressure 
engines propelled her. Her vast boilers were made 
invulnerable. Every mistake of the old Merrimac had 
been carefully avoided, and an open roof of two inch 
iron lattice allowed the battle smoke to instantly es- 
cape. Six enormous rifles were her guns — two of 
them jYi inch pivot guns, and the other four were six 
inch broadside guns, throwing one hundred and ten, 
and ninety-five pound chilled bolts. 

On the long voyage the keen witted expert officers 
discussed every means of possible attack — boiling 
water hose streams, smothering “carcasses,” and a can- 
nonade of the smokestack to turn in the furnace blasts 
upon the crew and the exposed ammunition. 

“Taken with the shoals, torpedoes and obstructions, 
the Tennessee in Buchanan’s hands is a grisly horror.” 
said Leigh to his gallant audience. “To aid her, there 
are the forts, the submarine mines, and the Gaines . 
Selma and Morgan, three heavy gunboats, well 
armed, and thev will all be crammed with veteran 
riflemen. It will be the deadliest fight of the war,” 
said Leigh. “Buchanan will lay her right alongside 
the Hartford” 

On the last day of July Jasper Leigh saw the low 


1 90 SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 

evergreen shores of Mobile Bay, with its vine-clad 
bluffs and the crescent lights of the great squadron 
of fourteen wooden vessels, their tenders and the four 
iron clads. 

Reporting by signal late at night, from the pilot, 
they learned of Farragut, Canby and Granger’s council 
of war. They also knew of the Admiral’s last orders 
to his Captains and his personal directions to every 
man in command of a boat. 

“We are going to fool them on our depth of water,” 
said the pilot. “On August fifth, is the great autumnal 
flood tide, and so, we will have six feet more water to 
aid us.” 

“And on that d#y, David Farragut will send in 
his visiting card to his old shipmate and once beloved 
chum, Buchanan. It will be a hot call !” 

It was on the first of August, sixty-four, when Jas- 
per Leigh climbing to the gun deck of the Hartford, 
as she lay off Dauphin Island, was greeted by Boat- 
swain Hannigan and the faithful “Monkey” Riley. 

“All hands are here for the fun,” said the delighted 
Master Hannigan, brave in his new volunteer rank 
while Riley sported the Boatswain’s silver whistle and 
chain. 

“Wardwell, too, is here, and all our old Mississippi 
men, to help do up Admiral Buchanan.” 

With a beating heart, Commander Leigh passed on 
into the presence of Fleet Captain Percival Drayton, 
the Bayard of the whole Navy. 

The courteous South Carolinian grasped Leigh’s 
hands in joy. “Just the man ! You shall direct our 
course in that shallow bay. You are a prize to us, a 
sorely needed help. Let me take you to the Admiral, 
with your dispatches.” 

In an hour. Leigh had given over the Pole’s dearly 
bought revelations and all of Secretary Fox’s last in- 
junctions. 

Admiral Farragut serenely listened and then ques- 
tioned Leigh closely. The Commander’s local knowl- 
edge seemed to greatly reassure the modern Nelson. 

“You can be a volunteer aide — you can visit the 
whole fleet. Report only to Drayton ! Pick your men 


SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. I9I 

for a sounding party. You need two warrant officers, 
a half dozen good men, and another commissioned of- 
ficer, should you be killed. Take him around the ships 
with you.” 

“Give me Wardwell,” said Leigh. “He was with me 
in my old work.” 

One long letter dispatched to La Belle Etoile, and a 
last loving adieu to Felicie. 

Then from the rigging, glass in hand, he long 
studied the thirty miles of the bay, where the blue pen- 
nant of Admiral Buchanan floated upon the “iron 
meeting house” quietly lying there with half steam up 
in plain view. 

Peace seemed to smile in these sunny days over the 
long eastern peninsula of fifteen miles, the low west- 
ern land spits and Dauphin Island, with its sleepy Fort 
Gaines on Pelican Point. Fort Powell closed the Grant 
Pass, the grim Fort Morgan rose On the ruins of old 
Fort Bowyer, where Major Laurence in eighteen four- 
teen, slew three hundred British and then, burned their 
flagship. 

The magnolia perfume was wafted from the groves, 
while excursion boats could be seen floating about, 
for even the iron hearted Farragut had reported “our 
only hope is to run down the Tennessee , for she has 
been tested as to impregnability. If she breaks our 
blockade here, then panic and disaster comes. New 
Orleans and Pensacola will fall !” 

On the night of August fourth, Admiral Farragut 
sent for Leigh. “Ten thousand troops needed are not 
forthcoming,” he said. “Only twenty-five hundred will 
busy Fort Gaines. Canby and Granger will have to 
do their work later. I’ll not have another such tide for 
six months. Have your party all ready at davbreak, 
Mr. Leigh. Drayton will give you a signal officer to 
con your steering orders, and a marine guard of a 
sergeant and six men.” 

The hour was late, the Admiral’s neck was swathed, 
for a vicious carbuncle greatly distressed him, but his 
voice was calm as he said : “Drayton, have them send 
me in some toast and a dish of tea at five o’clock. If 
the tide serves, we will go in ! Remember the signal, 


I92 SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 

three red battle lanterns at the mizzen peak of the 
Hartford ” 

“I depend upon you, Leigh,” kindly said the old 
hero. “We will have a busy day.” 

And then he held his hand out to the man whom he 
was sending to an c n.ost cc tain death 1 

At four o’clock Robert Wardwell awakened Leigh, 
who was wandering in the groves of La Belle Etoile 
with Felicie Villeroi. “Three red lanterns are at our 
mastnean. w o. 

Ten minutes later, Jasper Leigh, girt with his sword 
and pistols, stood in the chill morning mists on the fore- 
castle of the Hartford. 

The stout Metacomet was being lashed on the port 
side, and Leigh’s little band was soon gathered about 
him. Stripped to the waist, four leadsmen stood by 
with Hannigan and Riley, and a soldierly fellow 
marched up with a grim squad. “Sergeant Duffy, 
with your marine guard, Sir,” he said. 

Each man had three filled cartridge boxes belted 
around his waist. 

Seven coupled groups of ships now moved slowly 
out as the four heavy monitors slid in on the star- 
board side between the whole line and grim Fort Mor- 
gan. 

The Brooklyn was in the lead with the Octarora, 
launched to her, and the Richmond and Port Royal, 
and Lackawanna and Seminole, the Ossipee and the 
Itasca, and the Oneida and Galena closed the line. 

Leigh’s heart thrilled as the three enormous battle 
flags now went up to the mastheads of the Hartford, 
and then her great stern ensign was broken out. 

The Brooklyn moved ahead, for she had four guns 
of extremest power, and a torpedo catcher. 

Onward into the narrow piling channel between the 
forts, the silent line passed. 

“My God, there’s Farragut up in the rigging !” cried 
Wardwell, breaking in on Leigh’s stern calling out of 
the steering directions. 

Skeleton chart in hand, Jasper Leigh never lifted 
his head when, at forty-seven minutes past six, the 


SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 193 

T ecumseK s guns rang out and the battle of Mobile 
Bay was on. 

Fort Morgan turned loose its thunders, and then the 
Brooklyn sent back a terrific broadside into the work. 

The uproar of hell now broke loose, and with a 
gasp of horror Leigh saw the leading monitor Tecum- 
seh heel over and go down in a black swirl ! It was 
then, that the gallant Tunis Craven stepped aside and 
let another man leave the turret, going down with his 
ship and nearly all his crew ! 

The hesitating Brooklyn paused and backed, but 
from above now rang out a stern voice : “Damn the 
torpedoes! Drayton, go ahead!” 

It was the Nelson of America who spoke! The 
Hartford dashed alidad, quickly passing the three 
hundred yard gap between the Brooklyn and the flag- 
ship, and then dashed on directly over the sunken Te- 
cumseh . 

Jasper Leigh had held the Hartford's course straight 
through the opening of the sunken mines made by the 
fatal explosion, and the whole fleet rushed madly on. 

A storm of fiot was hurled on Fort Morgan from 
all the ships, the smoke drift soon blinding the Confed- 
erate gunners. 

Turning to the northwest, the Hartford swept 
grandly out into the open battle ground, the heavy fire 
now having silenced all the nearest land batteries. 

It was ten minutes past eight on this horrid August 
morning when with full trad of steam on, the huge 
Tennessee drove madly straight at the flagship. 
Missing her ramming stroke, she then delivered her 
whole broadside, Farragut sending back his whole 
metal. 

And nov the Morgan, Selma and Gaines crept near, 
their swarming riflemen scourging the decks of the 
Hartford. 

In all the thunder, Farragut signalled to the intrepid 
“Jimmy” Jouett: “Gunboat chase enemy’s gunboats!” 

Jouett dashed, single handed, at the three hostile 
boats, and in an hour captured the Selma, burned the 
Gaines and drove the wrecked Morgan under the guns 
of the fort. 


194 SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 

An ominous lull occurred while the fleet anchored, 
and the men had a brief breakfast. 

But the stern Admiral, still in the rigging, saw the 
Tennessee’s onslaught coming, now fighting alone, 
with neither forts nor boats to aid the knightly Bu- 
chanan. The signals floated out : “All attack , oows 
on, at full speed!” 

Buchanan was madly dashing into the fire of the 
eleven and fifteen inch guns of the monitors. 

And both the Merrimac and Albemarle had whipped 
single handed a whole Yankee fleet. Here was the 
one golden opportunity to break the blockade of Mo- 
bile. 

The grim Monongahela dashed into the Tennessee, 
the Lackawanna hurled herself also at the huge foe. 
The Hartford, too, drove in and gave the great enemy 
a rasping blow, and then a terrific broadside. 

All around the fighting Tennessee the Union boats 
moved, butting, firing into her ports and sending 
heavy volleys at the smokestack and port shutters. 

It was a chaos of hell ! The Hartford rammed again, 
being half cut down by the Lackawanna while also 
ramming the desperate foe. 

And now, the monitor Manhattan luckily sent a fif- 
teen inch shot ripping through the Tennessee. Flames 
soon poured into the open gundeck of the rebel mon- 
ster, for the high smokestack was entirely shot away. 
The port shutters were half of them jammed by shot, 
and the Tennessee then swung slowly within speak- 
ing distance of the Hartford. 

“Shoot that pilot !” cried Leigh, as his guard sent a 
volley directly into the shattered pilot house of the 
rebel boat. 

" Damn you, take that!” cried a smoke grimed rebel 
officer, springing up in the riddled conning tower and 
discharging a rifle directly at Leigh. 

“I’ve got it!” Leigh cried convulsively. Wardwell, 
four fathoms, remember !” and the young Commander 
pitched forward on the blood stained deck. 

“Steady !” yelled Wardwell. “Below with him, Han- 
nigan and Riley, for God’s sake! This is hell’s hot 
acre!” 


SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 1 95 

And now a wild yell of triumph arose as the Tenn- 
essee fell off with her steering chains all shot away, 
and three huge ships were now seen dashing in to ram 
her, when a white Hag was hopelessly flung* out to the 
breeze from the rebel ironclad ! 

In five minutes while the grim circle waited, still 
ready to strike the last blow, the Captain of the Tenn- 
essee came on board the invincible old Hartford. 
Bearing his own sword and Admiral Buchanan’s, he 
surrendered the long dreaded warship ! 

“Tell Buchanan to come on board and breakfast 
with me,” heartily cried Admiral Farragut, who had 
never noticed his bursted carbuncle in the excitement 
of the awful two hours. 

“The Admiral’s leg has been shattered,” sadly said 
the gallant Confederate. 

“Drayton,” cried the American Nelson, “take my 
own Surgeon, go on board and tell Admiral Buchan- 
an that he is my guest. Cheer the brave old boy up 1 
The world has few men like him.” 

All was over ! And now began the counting of the 
cost. 

One hundred and sixty-five killed and wounded in 
the Union fleet — one hundred and thirteen of these 
were drowned in the Tecnmseh. 

The wooden ships were riddled far worse than at 
New Orleans. The brave Craven and Mullany were 
dead, and yet it was a victory beyond all measure. 

Down in the cockpit of the Hartford, Percival 
Drayton leaned over the still unconscious Jasper Leigh. 

“Never fear,” cried the Surgeon. “His belt plate 
luckily turned the minie ball. It skipped under the 
floating ribs. He’ll have a crippled back for months, 
but he’s in not a bit of danger. Only the severest class 
of a flesh wound.” 

“That man is a Captain in the Navy from this min- 
ute !” cried Drayton. “He never touched bottom, and 
he killed the Tennessee’s pilot, and so she fell off help- 
lessly to her final destruction ! Send him over to 
Armytage at La Belle Etoile,” said Drayton. “I’ll 
have a dispatch boat land him there as soon as he can 
be moved.” 


I96 SPECIAL ORDERS FOR -COMMANDER LEIGH. 

And while a gloom of dull despair settled down upon 
the still defiant city of Mobile, the stars of night saw 
every Union boat at anchor decked in victory, save the 
lecumseh, lying far below them in the green water. 

All the wounded were soon sent over to Pensacola, 
where the high spirited Buchanan was attended like a 
prince, his leg being finally amputated. 

Four days later, Admiral Farragut cheerily said to 
Jasper Leigh: “I have sent your name in for a com- 
mission and a special medal of honor. Captain Leigh, 
just tell old man Armytage to build you up and rig 
you out for a matrimonial cruise. For, Sir, Mobile is 
now hermetically sealed tight ! The jig is up and they 
are going to let Davy Porter take Fort Fisher, for the 
old Hartford must not do it all ! You can’t breakfast 
with me, but I’ll come in, my boy, and take my tea 
and toast with you, myself, to-morrow.” 


CHAPTER XIV. 

ELISE ARMYTAGE* S STORY. 

It was Percival Drayton who wrote the letter to 
Henri Villeroi, which told the little colony of friends 
of Leigh’s charmed life. 

“You are only to communicate this to Mrs. Van 
Reynegom and Everett Morton, with Messrs. Hough- 
ton and Miller,” dictated Leigh. “Let Felicie and 
Adele think that I am still on ordnance duty, along 
the Atlantic coast. Next week I can write to her, and 
you must keep all this from General Villeroi. Our 
whole future depends on it. I go back to La Belle 
Etoile in two weeks. I have fought my last battle. 
The Confederacy will soon collapse !” 

“You are right,” said the gallant Drayton. “David 
Porter must now have his innings to gain the Vice 
Admiralship. He will command the Navy at the re- 
duction of Fort Fisher. And, the same wave of grati- 
tude which makes Farragut a full Admiral and the 


SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 1 97 

idol of America, makes you a Captain of the U. S. 
Navy. What more could you ask, at thirty-one?” 

Fleet Captain Percival Drayton sighed as he said : 
“Moral stamina is something after all. Attrition and 
inanition have finally destroyed the south. Grant’s 
gloomy programme was the only correct one! Mark 
now \ Next month, Atlanta falls into Sherman’s hands, 
and so, the Confederacy loses its last great factories 
and arsenals. Then Savannah and Charleston will 
drop into our hands within four months. Fort Fisher’s 
fall seals up the last rebel port.” 

At La Belle Etoile in September, and on Christmas 
day and January fifteenth, and later, February 
eighteenth, Leigh saw each of these events occur in 
logical sequence. 

But there was lively work yet to do in the bay, 
where Farragut was only King of the waters. 

Two days after Buchanan’s glorious defeat, Fort 
Powell was blown up, Fort Gaines surrendered itself 
to Granger — and, seated on the deck of the Hartford , 
three weeks later, Leigh, a weak convalescent, saw the 
terrific bombardment of Fort Gaines, and marked the 
colors of the Union at last flying on all the defenses 
of the inlet. One hundred and four guns, four war 
vessels, a thousand dead, and fifteen hundred prisoners 
were Farragut’s last trophies. 

“Now, gentlemen,” said he to Generals Canby and 
Granger, “you are free to leisurely reduce Mobile. 
General Maury will fight us to the last. I have sealed 
this entrance forever. You may as well keep fifteen 
thousand veterans cooped up there, away from Lee and 
Johnston, it hurts them more now than to storm the 
city.” 

And in fact, it was three days after Lee’s despairing 
surrender, when the steadfast Canby with forty-three 
thousand men, under Granger, A. J. Smith and Fred 
Steele, swept into Mobile, after some days of terrific 
fighting. Even then, Maury with his stores and nine 
thousand men, defiantly made his way up the Alabama 
River. 

Escorted by Lieutenant Wardwell, now in command 
gf the Water Witch, with Master Plannigan and Boat- 


I $8 SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 

swain Riley as his guardians, Jasper Leigh glided out 
in the Gulf, leaving the waters rippling over the sunken 
iron tomb of Craven and his men. 

‘‘Did you hear what the man said, who shot you, 
Captain?” cried Monkey Riley, handing to Leigh his 
blood-stained waist belt, with the belt plate turned half 
inward by the heavy minie ball. 

“I was busy singing out the soundings,” simply said 
Leigh. 

“He yelled ‘Compliments of the pilot !’ and then 
Wardwell, Hannigan and I took a final crack at him, 
and lifted him half out of the shattered pilot house! 
The marines’ guns were all empty !” 

“He was a bold fellow,” mused Leigh. “I don’t 
care for another ‘August morning with Farragut.’ 
That chap spoiled my breakfast. Now they have only 
one more ‘Dreadnaught.’ The Albemarle at New 
Berne alone has vanquished our fleet and recaptured 
New Berne.” 

Leigh was wandering gloomily in the gardens of 
La Belle Etoile, with Elsie Armytage, when he heard 
of Lieutenant W. B. Cushing’s immortal exploit of 
sinking that grisly terror, with a thirty foot launch. 

“That’s the end !” cried Leigh. “Ring down the 
curtain. Cushing is a paladin !” 

But there was yet eight months of frantic struggle 
still left to finish the attrition programme, when Robert 
Armytage tenderly took Leigh ashore at La Belle 
Etoile. 

“I have you now, you young salamander,” shouted 
the Medical Director. “Elise will chain you down on 
the verandah, you young sea dog. No more mad cap 
fighting scrapes. Couldn’t you do anything else than 
call off fathom tapes, with fifty riflemen cracking away 
at you. But I’ve got you now, and not a moment too 
soon,” gloomily said the happy husband. “The 
notices of a pro forma sale, under the decrees of con- 
fiscation are posted up here, at La Bocage, and also 
published at New Orleans, covering all Judge Pierre’s 
real estate.” 

“Appeal finally — make a last appeal. * Fox will sus- 


SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 1 99 

tain it with Speed and Usher, and so give us six more 
months at least,” answered Leigh. 

“On what grounds?” anxiously asked Armytage. 

“I'll talk it over with Elise,” replied Leigh. “I have 
discovered an innocent heir.” 

It was a feast day never forgotten at La Belle Etoile, 
when Wardwell, who had held the Water Witch a day 
before going up to New Orleans, told a dinner table 
of forty officers how bravely Leigh had steered the 
Hartford through the fiery maelstrom. 

A week later Captain Leigh received the order of 
Admiral Farragut, detailing him to the command of 
the Lower Coast, with shore station at La Belle Etoile. 

There was a personal note which brought happy 
tears to Jasper Leigh’s eyes. 

Surgeon Armytage was now absent at New Orleans 
effecting the filing of the last appeal on the ground of 
newly discovered evidence of the loyalty of the heirs, 
when Jasper Leigh, lying in his hammock on the moon- 
lit verandah, told Elise Armytage of the discovery of 
an innocent heir. 

“Only you and I, dear Elise, can bring this affair 
through, rightly. Henri Villeroi will gain a fortune 
with that resolute goddess, Adele Greenleaf. But 
his future at home must not be darkened. Felicie, too, 
must not be impoverished, and the newly-discovered 
heir, with Henri and Felicie, must finally divide be- 
tween them in three equitable parts, Judge Villeroi’s 
great property. 

“There is the curse of the past to lift from La Belle 
Etoile, and this poor old General Villeroi must not be 
disgraced, and his family sorrows cast to the winds. 
He is unmanageable as yet. I fancy the marriage of 
Henry and Adele will soften his heart. This must 
occur, the very moment that peace is declared. Till 
then, thank God, Aristide Villeroi’s parole keeps him 
awav from here. There is only you left to aid me. 
Only by keeping up the fiction of ‘Mr. Charles Mason’ 
for the present, can we master Aristide’s implacable 
hatred of the north. Only you, can save the family 
honor, when he can safely be brought down here, and 
some fiction must be maintained to General Villeroi’s 


200 SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 

dying day — to save Henri’s name. The General must 
meet the innocent heir’s renunciation with a frank sac- 
rifice of all his rancor, else,” gloomily added Leigh, 
“peace, fortune and happiness will forever flee these 
shades of La Belle Etoile.” 

Suddenly the beautiful Creole threw her arms 
around Leigh and pillowed his head on her generous 
bosom. “And, only Agnes Stanwood’s son can make 
this noble renunciation,” she cried in a tempest of 
fond love. “I knew your beloved mother’s picture the 
first moment that I saw it.” 

“Only Jasper Leigh can lock up the tomb of the past 
and seal it forever,” said the wounded Captain. “The 
final hearing must be in Washington? I shall steal 
you away from Robert for a month, and even Henri 
and Felicie must be hoodwinked also, for Adele’s sake, 
for the General’s sake, for Felicie’s own sake, for the 
sake of my own dear dead mother, the woman who 
loved Aristide Villeroi to the last !’.’ 

The stars shown down on them there while they 
tenderly communed in their tender conspiracy. 

“Thank God,” cried Leigh. “My mother’s narrative 
is undated. Only you shall ever see the other papers. 
General Villeroi must never know but that Agnes 
Stanwood Leigh died before his marriage with Justine 
Chouteau.” 

“And thus, Henri will never know of his bar sinister, 
and the old hero be spared an unavailing sorrow,” 
murmured Elise Delmar Armytage, through her happy 
tears. 

“You and I, Elise, must honorably deceive them 
all,” gravely said Leigh. “General Villeroi must know 
nothing till after my marriage in the name of Jasper 
Leigh has cured the whole titles to the property.” 

“But, you will forfeit your own inheritance,” sadly 
said Elise. 

“How?” asked Jasper. 

“All is then divided in two parts, between Henri 
and Felicie, save Le Bocage.” 

“As her husband, I will receive my share. Her 
marriage to me must follow the official decre re- 
leasing the whole estate to me as the only innocent 


SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 


201 


heir. This, Secretary Fox can keep secret as a mere 
Department ruling, and I will make at once a joint deed 
with Felicie to Henri, of his aliquot share. General 
Villeroi, through Henri and Felicie, shall have carte 
blanche as long as he lives. It will be a number of 
years before a general amnesty will relieve him. He 
was a Member of Congress at the outbreak of the 
war, and so, a marked man.” 

In the week of Surgeon Armytage’s absence, the 
one time Elise Delmar told a story to Jasper Leigh 
which melted the young hero’s heart. 

“Only now,” sighed Elise, “can I see the unutterable 
horrors of the slavery fetich. In our brilliant, happy 
society of the olden days, we women were mere butter- 
flies and the stern cavaliers who wooed us hid the 
darker shades of the domestic institution from our 
eyes. Clear sighted, brave, true and yet tender, Agnes 
Stanwood’s soul was shaken with the awful tragedy of 
the quadroon girl. It is the grist of the gods ! We 
have since paid off the old score in blood and tears. A 
new south, a greater, grander south, will be born from 
the ashes of the old feudal despotism. A south born to 
a higher patriotism, and sealed to the whole Union, in 
a noble new brotherhood. For, mark you, my beloved 
Jasper, all this hero blood is not to be shed in vain!” 

Leigh learned the whole story of the year’s agony 
of Colonel Villeroi after the supposed loss of his wife 
and child. Of the final emergence of his better man- 
hood, of the marriage with beautiful Justine Chouteau. 

Three weeks later, Jasper Leigh received his gold 
medal of honor, his full Captain’s commission and 
Secretary Fox’s private letter: “Your appeal once 
granted, I will summon you quickly to Washington. 
Future recognition awaits you. I will watch for the 
hearing and order you here.” 


202 SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 


CHAPTER XV. 

THE THIRD HEIR. 

Christmas passed serenely at La Belle Etoile, with 
Robert Armytage busied wi.h his noble labors and 
Jasper Leigh working with the charming Madame 
Elise in directing the tangled threads of the family 
intrigue. 

Everett Morton was now far away on the Neva and 
Mrs. Van Reynegom again queening it on Washington 
Square. 

And so, the household at Elmira was cut down to the 
disheartened General Villeroi, Henri and Adele Green- 
leaf, a little frie dly world for each other, and Felicie, 
now tormented at heart by Leigh’s protracted absence. 

His letters cf fictitious date and address, brought 
small cheer, for he could as yet point to no time for a 
reunion. 

And General Villeroi’s aroused suspicions were hard 
to combat. “Where is this man, Mason?” he vainly 
demanded. “The bitter end is coming.” 

The old General was now permitted to officially dis- 
tribute Miss Greenleaf’s organized aid among the Con- 
federate prisoners of the Elmira stockade. All the 
kindly offerings of the Southern friends of the thirty- 
eight thousand prisoners were delivered through a 
Prisoners’ Bureau, of which Henri, Felicie and Adele 
were the chie* officers. 

In vain, Adele urged on General Villeroi that Gen- 
erals Lee and Grant were powerless to effect ex- 
changes. The old lion chafed to get into the field once 
more, for the last deadly struggle ! 

A bitter coldness seemed to cut off all the courtesies 
of the battlefield between the two great opposing com- 
manders, a singular contrast to the cordial amenities 
always exchanged between Lee and McClellan. 

Both sides were now reeling in the death grapple. 
Though the heroic Thomas had annihilated Hood, and 
the victorious Sherman ruled at Savannah, Banks had 


SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 203 

been defeated miserably in the Red River, and the cau- 
tious Weitzel and the gallant but incapable Butler had 
signally failed at Fort Fisher. 

“Five hundred thousand fresh men,” groaned Gen- 
eral Villeroi, as the new draft was ordered, “and Rob- 
ert Lee has but forty thousand left to hold thirty-seven 
miles of works, against a hundred thousand grim vet- 
erans. The bitter end comes. Where is this Mason? 
He said that he was a Southern man. Perhaps in Eu- 
rope trying to release the four ironclads, which we 
have paid for and may never see. They, with the 
Stonewall, which the Yankees fear to attack, might 
finally break the Wilmington blockade. And then, Lee 
and Johnston could be adequately supplied. Another 
Cold Harbor or Fredericksburg victory might cause 
Grant to be relieved. Lee can easily whip any other 
Yankee general, save Sherman or Thomas.” 

Poor old hero ! He forgot the eagle-eyed Sheridan, 
the old lion Hancock, the untiring Meade, and even the 
grim-faced Halleck, who never made a mistake or lost 
a battle. “Old Brains !” 

Felicie, worn, thin and pale, was borne down by her 
uncle’s continued assaults. The fiction of Adele Green- 
leaf’s hospitality was growing palpably flimsy, and only 
Henri Villeroi’s sturdy aid, alone kept up the delusions 
of the time. 

“You are in the hands of fate,” cried Henri, to his 
impatient father. “Your wounds and age would keep 
you from the field. Grant will soon whirl a vast army 
on Lee. And, Joe Johnston cannot stand long against 
Sherman’s compact hundred thousand men, so superbly 
organized for the field, the veteran veterans of a hun- 
dred fights. And the brave Hood has rashly ruined us 
in the west. No, father ,your next work will be to aid 
in the creation of a new South. Let our only motto 
be ‘Resurgam !’ ” 

Henri and Adele had managed to prevent the excit- 
ing reports of the Mobile Bay battle reaching Felicie, 
for therein, the story of Jasper Leigh and his conning^ 
the Hartford , was told side by side with Jimmy Jou- 
ett’s desperate r allantry in annihilating three heavy 
steamers with the Metacomet. 


204 SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 

Even the gazette of Jasper Leigh to be Captain “for 
distinguished heroism at the Battle of Mobile Bay” 
was hidden from the lonely girl. 

Heart heavy and yet mystified, Felicie read the care- 
fully arranged letters of Elise Armytage and her own 
watchful lover. It seemed all black enough on the 
Lower Coast. The cable of Major Fritz Von Wall- 
hofer, a rapacious German volunteer quartermaster, 
his silent partner, Isidor Einstein, the great off-color 
cotton speculator, and Phineas Doolittle, a Yankee 
Sub-Commissioner, of the Freedmen’s Bureau, seemed 
destined to force the confiscation of all the three im- 
periled estates. 

The Rio Grande was soon closed to the South by 
Banks and Dana. Fort Fisher had at last fallen ! New 
Berne was recaptured, Charleston and Savannah were 
in the hands of the Federals, and Terry, Curtis, Penny- 
packer, and Bell had won their deathless laurels, when 
Captain Jasper Leigh, after a last prolonged confer- 
ence with Elise, hastened to Washington. 

Still weak with his wounds, but trusting in Secre- 
tary Fox, Captain Leigh arrived at the Ebbitt, ostensi- 
bly to settle his accounts of secret service abroad, and 
to write up a professional history of the operations of 
the sea cruisers of the Confederacy to be used in future 
negotiations. 

Washington was filled with wolves now, laying 
hands on the fair estates of the South, and “Vae Vic- 
tis” rang out in a hoarse chorus. 

Stantonian orders, slap-dash decisions and corrupt 
rulings, aided both the carpet bagger and scallawag 
now in their loathsome evolution. 

It was after a week of occasional conference with 
Assistant-Secretary Fox, that Leigh had received his 
golden medal from the President, and heard the un- 
usually warm commendations of that fine old Noah, 
Gideon Welles. 

“Now, Captain,” briefly said Fox, one early April 
morning, “in a month, the Confederacy will be only a 
gallant memory, the blood-stained halo of a terrific 
eclipse of our national power. Grant is at last ready 
to crush Lee ! And now, these smart rascals want to get 


SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 205 

hold of their prey. They have had the case advanced 
and it will be finally disposed of next week. You will 
ruin all if you handle it yourself. Get over to Balti- 
more and bring Judge Greenleaf here. He is one of 
the ablest lawyers in America, a man of immense 
wealth and influence. We have catered to Maryland 
to hold that gateway state royal, or at least tranquil. 
Tell him all, frankly, all. You ay that your relative, 
this young sky-rocket Villeroi, will soon marry the 
charming Miss Adele. Bring the Judge over here the 
day before the hearing. I will see both Speed and 
Usher. A special United States Deputy Attorney-Gen- 
eral will attend. Usher will detail an honest man to 
conduct this final hearing, and I will have something to 
say for the Navy Department. We have Le Bocage 
and La Belle Etoile in our custody. Keep calm, quiet, 
and let Greenleaf handle them/’ 

Captain Leigh never forgot the week spent in the 
monumental city with the courtly old sage Judge 
Greenleaf. The silver-haired counsellor heard every 
last secret of Jasper Leigh’s life, all the disclosures of 
Elise Armytage, and his first order had been for Leigh 
to telegraph and have his mother’s documents trans- 
ferred to the Treasury at Washington. 

But one pious fiction, Jasper still maintained. In 
mercy to Henri Villeroi and the bright-eyed Adele, he 
concealed the true date of his mother’s death. 

“My secret is now invulnerable,” mused Leigh, 
“Only Elise knows. Heart of gold; she is true!” 

The saddened Lee was on his last despairing march 
to Appomattox, when the hearing of the U. S. vs. 
Aristide Villeroi et al. was brought on. 

“Be of good cheer, Captain,” said Judge Greenleaf. 
“Fox and I understand all.” , 

Unsuspicious of the grave young naval officer, the 
astute lawyers of the corrupt trinity, remorselessly 
made out their case against General Aristide Villeroi, 
C. S. A., his only son, Lieutenant Henri Villeroi, late 
of the C. S. A. Steamer Alabama , and Felicie Villeroi, 
a registered public enemy, who had elected to leave the 
lines under an iron clad Butler passport. 

The hearing dragged along for three days, mesh 


206 SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 

after mesh being deftly knotted up — until the enemy’s 
lawyers wondered at Judge Greenleaf’s supineness. 

“I don’t like his damned silence. He cross-examines 
none of our witnesses,” grunted Von Wallhofer. “That 
old fellow has something up his sleeve.” 

And even Doolittle and the much-bediamonded I si- 
dor Einstein grew grave at Greenleaf’s masterly inac- 
tivity. 

It was a private hearing and the three conspirators 
had lavished thousands in bringing on many easy wit- 
nesses from New Orleans. Men all trained to re- 
hearse a tissue of lies. 

No sign of possible antagonism was, however, visi- 
ble as yet to the robbers in the uniformly favorable 
rulings of the wearied Assistant-Secretary of the In- 
terior, who heard the case in an official apathy. 

And so, their spirits rose, and Einstein rubbed his 
hands in glee when his lawyer said : “We now rest our 
case, with leave to submit all the papers and documents. 

“How much time will you need, Judge Greenleaf?” 
courteously demanded the grave presiding officer. 

“I have only two witnesses,” simply said the Balti- 
more counsellor. “I will then submit the case without 
argument, upon my papers and brief.” 

Motioning to Captain Leigh to take the stand, there 
was a hush of expectation as the bronzed sailor was 
sworn. , 

“What is your name?” quietly interrogated Green- 
leaf. 

“Jasper Leigh Villeroi !” frankly answered the 
sailor. 

It was a thunderbolt to the plaintiffs, and then all 
three of their lawyers sprang to their feet speaking at 
once. 

The presiding officer sternly said : “Gentlemen, you 
can take the witness in cross-examination later.” 

In a breathless silence, Greenleaf said : “State your 
age, birthplace and lineage ?” 

“I am thirty years of age, a naval officer by profes- 
sion, and a Captain of the U. S. Navy in rank. I was 
born at La Belle Etoile, Plaquemines Parish, in the 
State of Louisiana, in eighteen thirty-five. I am the 


SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 207 

eldest son of General Aristide Villeroi, and Agnes 
Leigh Stan wood of Albany, New York. 

A storm of objections were calmly overruled as 
Judge Greenleaf then offered in evidence the marriage 
certificate of Leigh’s parents, his own baptismal papers, 
and his last commission in the United States Navy. 

Half an L^ur later, the documents were duly ad- 
mitted and marked as exhibits. 

“You have always been a loyal citizen of the United 
States?” queried Judge Greenleaf. 

“I have been continuously in the Navy since eigh- 
teen fifty-one, and in active service during the whole 
existing war. ’ 

“You are a nephew of the late Judge Pierre Villeroi 
of New Orleans?” said Greenleaf. 

“I am,” swore Leigh. 

“And half-brother of Lieutenant Henri Villeroi, C. 
S. Navy, and cousin of Miss Felicie Villeroi?” con- 
tinued the lawyer. 

“Yes, Sir,” was Leigh’s reply. 

“That will do, Sir,” simply said Judge Greenleaf. 

An hour’s cross-examination only elicited the fact of 
his mother’s death, the taking of the maternal family 
name of Leigh, by her action, when he was entered at 
the Naval Academy, and his frank admission of the 
hostile status of his father, half-brother and cousin. 

“We ask for time to combat these most extraordi- 
nary statements,” cried the astounded chief counsel of 
the enemy. 

“You must attack the documents, then, gentlemen,” 
ruled the trial officer. “Parol evidence will not break 
them down.” 

Five minutes later, Assistant-Secretary Fox swore 
to the identity of Jasper Leigh, to his unimpeached 
loyalty, and to the regularity of his commission. The 
legal status of Le Bocage and La Belle Etoile was also 
briefly established. 

When Assistant-Secretary Fox closed, he had proved 
by an official certificate of the Sub-Treasurer of New 
York City, of the deposit for years of sealed documents 
in the name of Jasper Leigh, U. S. Navy. 


208 SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 

The afternoon was wearing on, as the trial officer at 
last gave his final rulings. 

“You must attack the seals of the Parish of Plaque- 
mines, upon these marriage and birth papers,” said the 
Assistant-Secretary. 

Whereat Judge Greenleaf then filed certified copies 
of the originals, still in existence, duly attested by the 
local authorities of the Plaquemines Parish, within 
three months of the trial. 

“Either pttack successfully these documents, or else 
the identity of Captain Jasper Leigh Villeroi,” said the 
puzzled official. “Without that, under the Confiscation 
Act, he takes the whole three estates, unless you can 
prove his active or latent disloyalty.” 

There was a gloomy pause! 

“We ask for two months delay in which to produce 
evidence attacking the marriage, the birth of this ad- 
verse witness, and also the relationship to the late 
Pierre Villeroi.” 

“Denied !” drily said the presiding officer, “with the 
ruling that I now revoke the decree of confiscation in 
all three cases, set aside the sale, and direct the return 
of the deposited funds. I give a pro forma decision 
adverse to the confiscation and find the nearest loyal 
heir enabled to hold the estates to be Captain Jasper 
Leigh Villeroi, U. S. Navy. The distribution of the 
estates will await the re-establishment of the civil 
courts in Louisiana. As I can give no non-suit, and 
there is no juror to withdraw, Judge Greenleaf,” said 
the official, “you must stand your own costs.” 

“And our relief?” protested the adverse attorney. 

“You cannot claim surprise,” coldly ruled the trial 
officer. “Public documents under seal are entitled to 
full faith and credence. The forum for your real at- 
tack is the original records of Plaquemines Parish, 
in the local courts. Only upon grounds of newly dis- 
covered evidence, of overwhelming character, will I 
reopen this case. The whole proceedings stand quashed. 
Both sides have leave to submit briefs and papers.” 

“Captain Leigh,” gravely said Secretary Fox later, 
“these fellows may even try to kill you.” 

“It would do them no good,” said Leigh laughingly, 


SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 209 

as the three gentlemen sat down to dine in the Metro- 
politan Club. “I have already made my will in favor of 
Felicie Villeroi, who will be my wife, please God, with- 
in three months.” 

“Bravo!” cried Greenleaf. “The title goes clearly 
then to her and Henri, through your noble resolution. 
We gave them a thunderbolt broadside, did we not?” 

But even over the wine, Jasper Leigh thought of the 
stern, unconquered old aristocrat, the caged Confeder- 
ate lion, his dearest foe, General Aristide Villeroi, the 
unconscious father, whose voice had never uttered the 
words “My son! My son!” 

“Your part of the campaign is now the easiest, a 
labor of love,” smilingly said Gustavus Fox, as he took 
his leave. “To marry Miss Felicie Villeroi is surely no 
onerous burden. I will see that the Assistant-Secre- 
tary does not reopen the case. I fancy that the prompt 
muster out of this volunteer adventurer, Major Von 
Wallhofer, the transfer of Phineas Doolittle to a Flor- 
ida district, and sending a Special Agent after Isidor 
Einstein for trafficking corruptly with the rebels, will 
spike all their guns. I will have the Secretary of War 
and General Speed notify the two officials that traffick- 
ing in government property is forbidden both to the 
officers of the Quartermaster Department and of the 
Freedmen’s Bureau. They will ne .er dare to reopen 
the case, but you must write all to Armytage at once, 
and have him watch over the original records. These 
brutes might either abstract or mutilate the originals.” 

“You forget the certified copies were taken only 
three months ago,” quietly said Judge Greenleaf. 

“My only fear is that of publicity,” gloomily said 
Captain Leigh. “General Villeroi will be thus warned 
of this impending marriage. These fellows will surelv 
talk.” 

“Never !” said Fox. “Fear will seal their lips. I will 
have them all admonished here at once.” 

“A»d, I will handle Aristide Villeroi,” gently said 
the Baltimore sage. “The General’s evidence would 
only damn their case, and prevent a possible rehearing. 
We are all bound to secrecy. They will all scatter or 
be scattered. No, Aristide Villeroi is the last man 


210 SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 

whom the^will approach. If he is liberated, old as he 
is, he would shoot any man who trespasses on La Belle 
Etoile. I have a plan.” 

“What is it?” eagerly asked Leigh. 

“On the collapse of the Confederacy, I will have Mr. 
Lincoln pardon Henri Villeroi at once. That restores 
him to his eligibility. General Villeroi has ample funds 
in Paris. When Henri and Adele are married, as soon 
as he is refranchised, they can delude the General over 
to Paris to settle his banking matters, and to re-estab- 
lish his health. Mr. Lincoln owes me something for 
handling the Maryland Legislature for him. Let Fe- 
licie return to La Belle Etoile after my daughter has 
‘reclaimed’ Henri. Then, a quiet marriage there, will 
cure all the disabilities as to fairly dividing the estates.” 

“Only one person can ever master Aristide Villeroi,” 
said Leigh, “and that person is Madame Elise. She is 
the only one save us, who knows of my real status. 
General Villeroi is sadly aged. The belief that I died 
in infancy is still with him. I, too, have some family 
pride,” cried Jasper. “And I acknowledge the moral 
wrong of my dead mother in ensuring the rearing of 
his eldest son in the halls of Freedom. I have no right 
to sit in judgment; no right to condemn! Both my 
father and myself have bared our hearts in battle. And, 
while I do not owe him love, I will show him deference 
and respect. It is my duty to temper to him the shock 
of this discovery.” 

“Nobly :aid,” said both his listeners. 

“I believe in God’s purposes,” slowly said Judge 
Greenleaf. “The house of Villeroi will not perish, 
though sorely chastened.” 

“There is another way for a final cure-all,” slowly 
said Fox. “After General Villeroi has been led back 
to La Belle Etoile, if he will only apply, his own disa- 
bilities will be removed by a Special Act of Congress.” 

“There is an iron will to be subdued, a haughty head 
to bend,” murmured Jasper Leigh. “He still believes 
me to be ‘Mr. Charles Mason,’ and he will be tossed in 
a whirlwind of resentment and suspicion.” 

“We will swing him into line at last,” cheerfully said 
t 

— -rjasna* * 


SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 


211 


Judge Greenleaf. “Adele can wheedle the heart cut of 
a stone.” 

“But only Elise Armytage must, as yet, share the 
secret of my birth,” said Leigh. “There is a delicacy 
I owe to Henri — to Adele, that their honeymoon should 
not be disturbed. One disclosure will suffice for the 
whole family.” 

“Yes,” thoughtfully said Greenleaf. “Villeroi will 
yield when he knows that only by this marriage can 
Henri and Felicie equitably divide the rescued estates.” 

“And now,” said Secretary Fox, “forget all but your 
lovemaking, Captain Leigh. You can run up and see 
this charming circle at Elmira at any time, now.” 

“I prefer to let Henri and Adele take the General 
away first,” laughed Leigh. “He is a desperate cross- 
questioner, and he vaguely recognized something in 
my tell-tale face. The genealogy of the Virginia 
Masons would betray me, and I would either have to 
brave him in his helpless adversity, or else lie to him, 
neither of which things will I do.” 

“Right you are,” hastily cried Greenleaf. 

A month later, the fall of Lee, the surrender of Joe 
Johnston, the yielding up of Dick Taylor, the flight of 
Kirby Smith, the surrender of the last rebel army un- 
der Buckner, left only a few marauders of Quantrell 
in the field, with Forrest, Mosby, and other recalci- 
trants defiantly disbanding their men, on their own 
hook. 

The Stonewall was turned over by the Spaniards, the 
reckless Shenandoah was now surging along on her 
daring run back to Liverpool, and the “Stars and Bars” 
were furled forever. If in gloom, still, in glory — and, 
a strangely wayward fortune made Joe Johnston’s last 
battle of Bentonville, Gordon’s final charge at Appo- 
mattox, and General Slaughter’s sharp victory at Pal- 
metto Ranch, three weeks after Lee’s surrender, all 
expiring gleams of blood-bought Confederate success. 

Though Mobile was the final great action, the Con- 
federate Army fired its last shots under Slaughter, 
driving the Yankees fearlessly in a hopeless defeat. 

But, the immortal pageant of the two Grand Reviews 
were still thrilling men’s minds, when the frightful 


212 SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 


crime of that Good Friday night of April fourteenth, 
sixty-five, shocked the whole civilized world. 

Abraham Lincoln, the great, the good, thf tried 
champion of the nation, died by the bullet of a roman- 
tic madman ! 

To Captain Jasper Leigh, now heart happy in his 
exchange of full confidences with Elise Armytage, se- 
cure in the knowledge of Felicie Villeroi’s undying 
love, the blow came to shatter all his rosy dreams at 
once. 

“There will be a frightful reaction now against the 
South,” mourned Gustavus Fox. “I advise you, Cap- 
tain Leigh, to go on, to the end, under your name of 
Jasper Leigh. Should you desire to change it, later, 
an act of the New York Legislature, and an order of 
the Secretary of the Navy will easily affect it.” 

Judge Greenleaf hastened from Baltimore to confer 
with the astounded Leigh, who was swept away by the 
current of various untoward events. 

The repudiation of Sherman’s too liberal terms 
granted to Joe Johnston, was the first sign of the ec- 
centric career of that violent-minded President, An- 
drew Johnson. 

“Woe to the South !” cried Judge Greenleaf. 
“Thank God, that Mr. Lincoln signed young Henri 
Villeroi’s pardon on his return from that one visit of 
triumph to Richmond. I go to Elmira to-night. Henri 
and Adele must be instantly married, and I wdl get 
Aristide Villeroi at once out of the country. Presi- 
dent Johnson’s mind seems to be unsettled. If he holds 
to the savage declarations of his new inaugural as 
President, poor old Aristide Villeroi may die in chains. 
But I have obtained an order for his release from Sec- 
retary Stanton, v/ho already fears Johnson’s unbal- 
anced mind.” 

“To Felicie, say nothing,” said the startled Leigh. 
“Only let her know that good news awaits her at La 
Belle Etoile.” 

“I shall not leave the party till they are on the 
ocean,” exclaimed the anxious lawyer. 

“You will bear to Felicie my written appeal to re- 
main at Elmira till .Surgeon Armytage and Elise come 


SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 


213 


up to conduct her back to La Belle Etoile, after a short 
pleasure tour. I will join the party at New York and 
return with them. I have telegraphed to Armytage to 
take a three months’ leave and received his reply. 
Thank God, the telegraphs are all open now. Mr. Sid- 
ney Houghton will send his sister to conduct Felicie 
back to Elmira, where she will preside over the house 
until I can join the party there. I leave it to you and 
to Adele to force the belief on Felicie that only by a re- 
turn to La Belle Etoile can she aid to finally secure all 
our fortunes. Mr. Houghton will hand Adele my wed- 
ding gift. You are right; remove General Villeroi, or 
he is doomed. Leave me to continue my correspond- 
ence with Felicie, Adele and Madame Elise, as the only 
safe way to hide my status from old General Villeroi 
till he is in Paris. If he discovered our love, my rank, 
name and secret, he would never leave America.” 

Two weeks later, Leigh knew of the sailing of the 
happy wedding party, and yet of the gloom with which 
Aristide Villeroi had faced the inevitable. 

“Be a man now, as always a hero heretofore, Aris- 
tide,” cried Judge Greenleaf. “It’s the grist of the 
Gods. The fates were too unyielding. As the father 
of your son’s wife, I insist that Felicie goes to Pla- 
quemines to try to save the family possessions.” 

The fallen magnate sighed. “I have no country 
now,” he fiercely cried. “And I must let my niece tem- 
porize with that woman traitor, Elise Delmar. For 
what — money, mere money?” 

“See here, General,” briskly said Judge Greenleaf, 
“the days of the immolation of martyrs are over ! You 
have shone out in the foremost and focal fire of 
battle. Cni bonof I represent the line of the younger 
Villerois. They have a right to live their opening lives, 
unshadowed by your wrecked Confederacy. For your 
brave son’s possible children, your niece’s descendants, 
should she marry — I now plead.” 

“She shall only marry a Southern man, or else my 
curse clings to her,” was the old fire-eater’s last threat. 

“Even that will come around all right,” said Green- 
lea f . with a peculiar smile. 

“That fellow Mason, if not spurious,” murmured 


214 SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 

Aristide. “I thought I detected a lurking interest 
there.” 

“Bah,” said Judge Greenleaf, “the man is far away 
in Europe.” 

“True,” gravely said the old General, “Felicie has 
never spoken of him again, and I know that Adele has 
fully paid him for the use of his mansion.” 

The released Confederates streamed out of Elmira 
prison toward their lonely and wrecked homes, in that 
remarkable return voyage where no one asked the Con- 
federate soldier for a traveler’s ticket or a dollar. Half 
the South was now living on gratuitous issues of Gov- 
ernment rations, and ruin stalked abroad in the mag- 
nolia land. 

When Jasper Leigh read Adele Villeroi’s letter, 
thanking him for his diamond necklace, a heartily 
given wedding present, he blessed God that the bride 
could write: “The old General, as yet, suspects noth- 
ing. Take my advice, now, and marry Felicie out of 
hand.” 

“Toujonrs de I’audace!” smiled Leigh. “Dear 
Adele. You do not know of the blot on the ’scutcheon. 
I must bury forever the defect in Henri’s heirship.” 

President Johnson was madly swinging around the 
circle of broken pledges, violent seizures of feeling and 
erratic statesmanship, even before the Baltimore law- 
yer captured Jaseper Leigh, for a happy week. 

“Now, sir,” gayly said Greenleaf, “you can abandon 
your so-called ‘ordnance duty,’ and speed away to join 
Armvtage, the delightful Elise and our own young 
lady of the magnolias. The General is fairly off, still 
honorably hoodwinked, but his last words were to me : 
‘Look up that young fellow, Mason! If he has de- 
ceived me, I will have a reckoning with him yet !’ ” 

“A cheerful prospect for a future acquaintance with 
my father,” quietly smiled the Captain. 

“Nonsense,” merrily cried Greenleaf, over a glass of 
Madeira at dinner. Go in now and make your own 
calling and election sure. I will counteract all the van- 
ished schemers. The so-called Major Von Wallhofer 
has been sharply mustered out. So, he can provide no 
more borrowed money to bid in the estates. His power 


SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 215 

is gone. And Doolittle is exiled on a sandy Florida 
beach in charge of a lot of starving contrabands. Mr. 
Isidor Einstein got away to Frankfort-on-the-Main, 
with his vast plunder, after paying the lawyers here to 
conceal his European address. You must now end this 
long drama. “Nice customs curtsey to great kings !” 
An avalanche of misrule is descending on the helpless 
South. For, I frankly believe Andrew Johnson to be 
unsettled in his mind. His course now equally alarms 
both friend and foe. Confusion, political treachery, 
and an insane casting out of the ballast of reason, will 
lead him on to a certain impeachment. But you must 
at once take your place in the family of the Villerois, 
secure these estates, and marry this bewitching girl, 
for a loathsome scum is organizing so-called state gov- 
ernments, which the unsteady Johnson will certainly 
recognize. If you do not act, young man,” gayly said 
Greenleaf, “I’ll act for you. I’ll tell General Villeroi 
enough to bring him to you, with open arms. We are 
relatives, now, my boy.” 

“Leave it to Adele and Elise,” pleaded Jasper Leigh. 
“There are sad, unopened pages in the history of 
Agnes Stanwood, which only Elise and I know. Gen- 
eral Villeroi must be spared our knowledge of these 
family skeletons. Face to face, with the revenges of 
Time, his proud old heart would break.” 

“You will promise me to protect the estates by openly 
asserting your claim?” cried the lawyer. 

“I do. I will go back there with the three you sent 
back to Elmira, with Houghton’s devoted sister.” 

“And — you will marry Felicie within the year?” 

“If Her Ladyship of La Belle Etoile will permit, 
yes !” said Captain Leigh. “But Adele and Elise must 
win the old warrior home to his own roof tree first.” 

Captain Jasper Leigh forgot everything a fortnight 
later, "when, in the library of the Elmira home — Felicie 
Villeroi threw herself weeping into his arms. 

But they were happy tears. Tears of love and pride ! 

“Jasper, my brave Jasper!” she cried, “Elise has told 
me all. Your headlong gallantry, your terrible wound, 
your hiding your injury from me. And you would 


21 6 SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 

have gone to your death without letting me share your 
confidence.” 

“I went to Mobile Bay, darling,” solemnly said Cap- 
tain Leigh, “to earn the right, in the face of the enemy, 
to ask Secretary Fox. to defend your inheritance, 
Henri’s birthright, and Judge Pierre’s estate. You will 
be rich, Felicie. Your uncle never need lower his proud 
head. Henri meets on equal terms with that entranc- 
ing Adele, the very angel of rebeldom.” 

“And I can then restore your money so nobly placed 
at my disposal, Jasper,” said Felicie with downcast 
eyes. 

“You will retain it as your wedding settlement, my 
beloved queen,” cried Captain Leigh. “For we must 
save the Villeroi inheritance. There are reasons why 
only a marriage with me will cure the effects of the 
rash experiments of the General and Henri in ‘Confed- 
eracy building,’ a sad and dangerous trade ! All I ask is 
that when Adele, when Elise and Judge Greenleaf, 
when Henri himself tells you that the hour has come, 
you will marry me, fearlessly, and — only at La Belle 
Etoile. The General will be controlled only by Elise, 
to whom he must submit in love.” 

“There’s my hand,” fondly cjped the Lady of the 
Magnolia Land, “claim it when you will, you runaway 
battle hero!” 

For two months, the Armytages, with Felicie and 
Captain Leigh, shone as bright particular stars at Sara- 
toga and Newport. 

One September day, the two officers cried : “Ho, 
for La Belle Etoile!” There were return orders from 
Secretary Fox, with a characteristic personal note : 
“Go back and guard La Belle Etoile. There is a Mili- 
tary Governor of Louisiana now. Let me hear soon of 
that marriage, or, I will court-martial you !” 


SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 21 7 


CHAPTER XVI. 

FAIR HANDS LIFT THE CURTAIN. 

For the first few weeks after the return of Captain 
Leigh and Surgeon Armytage, both of these officers 
were kept officially busy. The Surgeon was charged 
with the immediate breaking up of the vast hospital 
establishments at La Bocage and La Belle Etoile and 
the settlement of the four years’ accounts. 

Jasper Leigh, in addition to his duties as command- 
er of the Lower Coast, was ordered to collect the two 
hundred transports, freight vessels, makeshift war 
vessels and captured boats, to inventory them for sale, 
and to disembark the purely naval stores. This, with 
an inspection of the gunboats marked down for sale at 
public auction, gave Leigh full play for his judgment. 
Instant reduction of expense, a rigorous economy and 
a return to the first principles, pay as you go, was de- 
manded by a people whose national debt had increased 
from ninety to thirty-three hundred millions of dollars 
in the four war years. 

All the people were now counting up the cost, over 
the whole North and South, corruption and license 
ruled. 

The South was devastated, bankrupt, her .young 
generation swept into the grave, her courts, churches, 
schools, colleges and legislatures all closed. 

The North had expended four thousand millions in 
the struggle — the South, with its resultant losses, fully 
three thousand millions, to say nothing of the now 
worthless ambulatory human property that had 
brought on the war. 

Th**ee hundred thousand northern men had died on 
the field, or of wounds and disease, an equal number 
were crippled for life — the sad tribute to Moloch — with 
the four hundred thousand of the South, made up a 
million of American men as the prey of the War God. 

General Mower, at New Orleans, like all the Union 
Commanders, was straining every nerve to aid Briga- 


21 8 SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 

dier General T. M. Vincent in his herculean task of 
mustering out the whole Union Volunteer Army. Out 
of two millions, seven hundred thousand individuals 
who were under the Union banners during the whole 
war — the enormous aggregate of one million and 
twenty-three thousand were present under the colors 
when General Slaughter fired the last rebel volleys at 
Palmetto Ranch ! Eight hundred thousand of these 
were returned to their homes by November fifteenth, 
sixty-five, and on November first, sixty-six, the last 
volunteers had been peaceably sent back to civil life 
leaving only a regular army then of some sixty thou- 
sand to overcome three hundred thousand still active 
Indians and to garrison the seething Southern States. 

With unexampled fortitude, the disbanded southern 
troops peaceably sought out their ruined homes — with 
a magnanimity unparalleled, the million of triumphant 
victors laid down their arms before the altar of civil 
power and took up their daily toil — asking nothing, 
hoping nothing, fearing nothing ! 

This sublime self-control awed all Europe. France 
slunk out of Mexico, leaving the romantic Maximilian 
to die like a knight of old, and England, her ports 
peacefully open now for the needed cotton, gazed 
thoughtfully at the young Colossus of the West. 

Jasper Leigh’s nights were filled with music, for 
Felicie Villeroi now went singing through the old man- 
sion, her heart relieved from the tension of the pres- 
ence of the indomitable General Villeroi. 

A goddess in her old walks, she left the future to 
Jasper and Elise Armitage, whose sage counsels now 
directed the entire family. 

To have both her dear ones, Henri and her prospec- 
tive bridegroom, spared by the dark Angel of Death, 
was Felicie’s crowning gift from Heaven. 

There were few signs of war now lingering around 
the old mansion, save the vast piles of Government 
stores, the anchored vessels, now swinging idly at their 
moorings, and the necessary marine guard, with the 
small army of civilians now busy dismantling the two 
great hospitals. 

The perfect happiness of Henri and the lovely Adele 


SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 


219 


left nothing to be desired, from their letters, but the 
departure of the young lovers for a run to the Rhine, 
Switzerland, Italy and the Orient, brought Robert Ar- 
my tage into grave private conference with Jasper 
Leigh. 

It was on an October evening that the Surgeon took 
the young Captain aside into the library. 

“Your tactics of hoodwinking General Villeroi and 
hastening Henri’s marriage are temporarily victori- 
ous,” gravely said Armytage. “But, neither Felicie, 
myself, Henri nor Adele can aid you and Elise in now 
handling the old fire-eater. Do you not see your new 
danger? The old General is left alone in Paris. The 
lingering Confederate colony there will post Aristide 
Villeroi on all the events of sixty-four there. This 
fellow, Ranald Mason, whom you say fled first to the 
Papal Zouaves and then to Egypt, after murdering a 
member of the Guardia Nobile, this devil will have 
left the floating venom of his foul scandal in Paris. 
Such a wretch, in robbing the Confederate Commis- 
sioners, must have had many accomplices. The dis- 
appointment of Madame Slidell and Mrs. Preston will 
find vent in complaints to General Villeroi. Do not 
forget that you, Jasper Leigh, as a hero of the Kear- 
sarge, were at the great John Bigelow banquet. Some 
of the ladies of the Confederate colony of exiles even 
yet refuse to believe that Ranald Mason was a mere 
adventurer. Elise gets letters from one or two old 
friends, who are vainly striving to soften poor old Vil- 
leroi’s resentment against her, dear angel, for her mar- 
riage with me. And, Elise fears for the result of all 

this r 

“True,” cried the startled Captain. “I had never 
thought of this. It’s like the deer with one eye, that 
was killed by the hunters in the boat, after seeking the 
sea-shore.” 

“And there is another very present danger,” said 
Armytage. “There seems to be no place as yet in 
America for the gentlemen of the late Confederacy. 
The medium classes, the rank and file, the negroes even 
are forced to accept the stern logic of events and to 
build new homes from the ashes of the old. But the 


2 20 SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 


men of family and rank are, as yet, prevented, dis- 
franchised and left powerless under personal confisca- 
tion and political disability. Of course, all this abnor- 
mal state of things will be upset later. The best 
blood of the South must rally, take up its interrupted 
work, and finish ‘the window in Aladdin’s , tower.’ But 
it will take long years to effect this. These defiant rebel 
patricians are now scattered from Egypt to Brazil, all 
over Europe, in Mexico, and many are seeking the 
rich Pacific coast, where there is no local political prej- 
udice. The Pacific was untouched by war’s ravages. 
Like Texas, it was really enriched by the struggle. 
Still, these Southerners are clannish. The Creole col- 
ony of pleasure in Paris, the affiliated families are 
there, all are an fait, with New Orleans and Louisi- 
ana happenings. Here now is the ‘New Delta.’ This 
long article is the revenge of Von Wallhofer, Doolit- 
tle and Einstein. The last named is the Paris part- 
ner, now, of a strong Israelite banking house, in New 
Orleans.” 

With a crimsoned face, Jasper Leigh read a long 
article commenting bitterly on a United States Naval 
Officer in command, corruptly paying, with the con- 
sent of the Interior Department, the taxes on the 
Pierre Villeroi estate, on Le Bocage and La Belle 
Etoile. “The infamous jugglery by which the es- 
tates have been transferred, for no consideration, to a 
favored Yankee officer of the Navy,” said the article, 
“is an act of degrading tyranny ! This grasping 
wretch, once captured the two beautiful estates, which 
he seems to have appropriated, and he has even put 
his strong hand on Judge Villeroi’s city property. The 
name of Captain Jasper Leigh should be deservedly 
execrated. A pet of the Secretary of the Navy, he 
has defeated an honest sale, which would have placed 
nearly three-quarters of a million in the United States 
Treasury.” 

“This is horrible, horrible!” gasped Leigh. “I see 
trouble coming.” 

“I do, also,” sorrowfully said Armytage. “And no 
one but Elise can help you. Villeroi, old as he is, is 
of that fiery French blood, which never brooks insult, 


SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 221 


a blow, or a fancied dishonor. Proud, secretive, des- 
perate, coldly courteous, — this old fire-eater will at 
once come over here. He may even seek to kill you! 
He will surely find you out. ‘Mr. Charles Mason !’ The 
man who robs him both of his estates and his niece. 
I do not see how you can justify yourself. You can- 
not tell him all, as yet.” Jasper Leigh shuddered as 
he pondered in silence, still determined to hide the 
vital secret from Armytage, from Henri and Adele, 
even from Felicie. 

“I dared not even tell Greenleaf and Secretary Fox 
that my mother’s death was subsequent to General 
Villeroi’s illegal marriage. To proclaim Henri base 
born,” mused Leigh,” “to wring the General’s heart, 
with a new sorrow, the result of my unyielding moth- 
er’s inflexible moral code as to slavery, never! I will 
die first! And yet, for Felicie’s sake, this must not 
be!” 

To seek the counsel of Judge Greenleaf and Secre- 
tary Fox was his first act, and yet when he had dis- 
patched his letters, he felt how little they knew of all 
the vital secret. “I dare not tell them,” he murmured. 
“Even Elise does not know the real date of my moth- 
er’s death. I am helpless, the heir to the still un- 
quenched sorrows of my parted parents.” 

A sudden thought came to him. He hastened to 
have the loyal Elise write several confidential letters 
to Paris, to obtain a prompt warning of the sudden 
departure of the General. 

“Poor General Frank Pendleton, were he alive,” 
sighed Leigh. “I would write him to frankly disclose, 
the honorable past to the old planter, but the gallant 
Kentuckian, Felicie’s one chivalric friend, lies buried 
at Interlaken. 

“He never lived to see the Stars and Bars come 
down in the gloom of an eternal defeat.” 

“This must be kept from Felicie,” cried Elise Army- 
tage, with her kindly eyes filled with sad tears. “And 
thank God, in their travels, Henri and Adele will miss 
this alarming attack. But you, Jasper, are our savior. 
Your public character, your professional name. It 
must be vindicated and, at once I” 


222 SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 

“I shall quickly send to Secretary Fox a copy of the 
article and ask for a Court of Inquiry. This will be 
promptly refused as unnecessary. And that official 
letter will suffice for the two services. I shall send a 
certified copy to Rear-Admiral Boggs and General 
Mower. As for the New Delta, let it rave! No man 
can successfully fight a newspaper. I know that ! All 
this is a part of the price which I pay for Felicie. The 
saddest result of all is this. We were going to have 
an act of Congress passed* removing all Aristide’s dis- 
abilities. This would at once throw the La Belle Etoile 
estate and a share of the Judge’s estate back into his 
hands. Congress is not in session yet. This hope will 
be blasted. And President Johnson, under the rule, 
cannot personally pardon him, unless he will apply. 
That he will never do. Judge Greenleaf vainly urged 
him to do this at the time of the wedding. T have 
lived a Southern Rights’ man, fought as a Confeder- 
ate, and I will die an unpardoned rebel, so help me 
God!’ said the grim old soldier.” 

“And what will you do, Jasper?” timidly asked the 
loving woman. “All your work of four long years, 
your loving labors, lies shattered around us now.” 

“I must think, think !” said Captain Leigh. “To flee 
the locality now would be to confess my shame, but 
to be embroiled with Felicie’s uncle, the head of the 
family, may lose me her hand, and even wreck her hap- 
piness. Perhaps, as she is young, some other man, 
more fortunate, some man less weighed down by fate, 
may cause her to forget me. I could turn the whole 
property over, on Henri’s return, to him, to the Gen- 
eral and to Felicie. The Department will give me 
one of the best ships. I could take a three years’ 
China cruise.” 

A womanly glance of tender indignation played in 
the eyes of the loving Elise. “You shall never be 
sacrificed — I swear it !” 

And yet, while Felicie in radiant beauty, looked for- 
ward every day to the return of Henri and Adele, as 
the one preliminary of her marriage, Jasper Leigh was 
startled when Flise, white faced, brought him a Paris 
letter. 


SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 223 


“General Villeroi suddenly drew out all his bank 
deposits and has transferred them to America, and left 
yesterday for New York. This letter by the English 
fast mail will arrive quicker than anything by the 
French packet. He sailed under an assumed name 
and left without a single good-bye. My brother fol- 
lowed him secretly to Havre, and he verified this. Be- 
ware of this moody madness!” 

“So you see, Elise,” the Captain sadly said, “the 
issue is forced upon us. The seeker for vengeance 
will follow hard upon the letter. And yet I must stand 
my ground.” 

“Can Robert not advise you?” cried the now un- 
happy wife. 

“I fear that he can only be a silent spectator of a 
struggle, the issue of which is in God’s hands alone.” 

But little aid and comfort was derived from the let- 
ters of Judge Greenleaf and Secretary Fox. 

“There is no course left now, but one,” the elder 
men wrote, in a strange unison of opinion. “General 
Villeroi must yield to the inevitable. You should 
marry Miss Villeroi, at once, and explain afterwards. 
It’s the only plan to avert a storm, and quell the now 
well-hinted official scandal — for the New Delta’s arti- 
cle has been read far and wide. Let no fantastic sense 
of honor intervene, now, and wreck the happiness of 
two young hearts.” 

“I will not marry her while she is a helpless as a bird 
in a snare,” mused Leigh. “My mother’s one fatal 
step of a purely personal revenge, upon her youthful 
husband, has left her son’s hands tied. It is Aristide 
Villeroi’s revenge, that, the wrong done him in the 
concealment of his son, has wrecked that son’s happi- 
ness.” 

Pride, indecision, official honor, and a desire to 
shield Felicie Villeroi from an impending sorrow, kept 
Jasper Leigh at La Belle Etoile, in a helpless waiting 
for the storm. 

It was on a balmy evening of early November, when 
a travel-stained carriage paused at the park gates of 
La Belle Etoile. On the veranda, the Surgeon and his 
wife were conversing in low tones, while Jasper Leigh 


224 SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 

hung over Felicie, in the drawing room, her exquisite 
voice ringing out in the silent night. 

Suddenly, the surgeon leaped to his feet, as a tall, 
lithe form passed him, gliding on like a panther. 
Straight through the opened door, the silent visitor 
passed on, until he stood before the startled Jasper 
Leigh, around whose form Felicie, in alarm, had 
thrown one clinging arm. For the brave Southern 
girl saw murder in the inflexible glances of those steely 
gray eyes, now bent on the young officer. 

The surgeon stood spellbound, in the open door of 
the drawing room, and at the window the white face 
of Elise Armytage was visible. 

“So, ‘Mr. Charles Mason,’ ” coldly sneered the pale- 
faced General Villeroi. “I find you here, sir, as Captain 
Jasper Leigh, the Yankee robber of my son’s birth- 
right, the spoiler of my helpless niece ! Hark you, sir, 
this is my birthplace. Every nook and corner speaks 
of the dead past. You have juggled with your life, 
sir. For, by the God who made me, you will die to- 
night. You said you were a Southern man! Liar! 
I call you now ! Thief, you know you are ! But, you 
shall die in your hour of seeming triumph.” 

There was the gleam of steel as the old man’s hand 
flashed out a heavy revolver. 

With a scream, Felicie Villeroi threw her arms 
boldly around her silent lover, covering him with the 
sweet bulwark of her graceful form. 

Aristide Villeroi lowered his pistol. 

“You wear a uniform, sir. Leave your living ram- 
part. You shall have a chance to defend your honor !” 

“Felicie, my own, my life,” calmly said Leigh. 
“Loosen your beloved arms. I wish to face General 
Villeroi’s pistol alone.” 

Then, with a dexterous gesture, the young naval of- 
ficer avoided his lovely burden. 

Through a window, now glided Elise Armytage, 
clasping the fainting girl, as the frenzied man covered 
Leigh again with his cocked revolver. 

“One word,” cuttingly said Jasper Leigh, in a voice 
of utter contempt. “Liar, you have called me. I am 
none. I am a Southern man, by birth and blood. I 


SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 225 


say this on the edge of my grave. ‘Charles Mason’ was 
a name given to me by the Navy Department, offi- 
cially to counteract the operations of your own secret 
bureau. I bore it in honor. Twice I saved your son’s 
life in the war. For my actions here I am only ac- 
countable to my God, to the laws of my country, my 
profession and the inbred feelings of an honest heart. 
You ask me to the field of honor. You ? No Villeroi 
can die at my hands. You cannot chain the love of 
your niece. Dead or alive, her heart is mine. To you, 
sir, if you think my life belongs to you, I say, shoot !” 

With a wild cry, Elise Armytage threw herself upon 
General Villeroi. “Madman,” she shrieked. “Nature 
forbids ! The tie of blood holds back your murderous 
hand. In the name of God, save your soul from the 
deepest hell.” 

The infuriated veteran glared feebly around, and 
then, with a muffled cry, pitched forward heavily upon 
the tufted carpet. 

“Better so!” sternly said Robert Armytage, as he 
called to the gaping servants. “Bear him to my own 
room. It L the first stroke of apoplexy, and yet, it has 
prevented a cowardly murder.” 

Throwing his arms around the tottering Felicie, 
Jasper Leigh crushed her to his bosom, raining kisses 
on her trembling lips. 

“Even this, even this, I can bear for you ! I go to 
my ship here, the Jamestown. God be with you, 
sweet. Take her, Elise, for my sake.” 

All that night the lights burned in the room where 
Aristide Villeroi lay, struggling with the dark angel. 

With an unbending brow the surgeon followed up 
every refinement of his art. “It’s the same sad old 
story,” mused Armytage, in the still watches of the 
night. “The sword wearing out the scabbard. Only a 
law to himself, poor, fiery old aristocrat. God’s hand 
struck him down mercifully on the verge of a brutal 
murder. Call me if there is the slightest change,” 
wearily said Armytage. “I am sick of mysteries, and 
I will take my wife away from all these horrors. By 
Heaven, Felicie too will go away with us. This old 
tiger is tamed for awhile.” 


2 26 SPECIAL ORDERS FOk COMMANDER LEIGH. 

In his wife’s room the surgeon listened to Jasper 
Leigh’s message. “I will command my station now 
from the quarterdeck of the J amestozvn. Let Robert 
seek me out there. Over the threshold of La Belle 
Etoile my feet shall pass no more !” 

“Rightly done,” growled Armytage. “I am glad 
that Leigh will uphold the dignity of his station. As 
to this old mad wolf, he is the head of your family, my 
own Elise. I fancy if he regains consciousness, he will 
be ashamed to meet your eyes.” 

On the morrow, the vague news of some smothered 
tragedy convulsed the whole station, but Captain 
Leigh, with a stern dignity, drew in his lines, and his 
grave face showed neither fear nor resentment. 

On the quarterdeck of the Jamestown , under the 
awnings, Felicie and Madame Elise conferred in low 
tones, when Surgeon Armytage repeated that General 
Villeroi was out of danger, though his convalescence 
would be greatly retarded. 

“I ask but one thing,” gravely said Captain Leigh, 
“and it is, that Henri Villeroi and Adele be recalled 
here. There is work here for them to do. Young 
Villeroi must be charged with the care of his aged 
father, and the administration of these estates. As for 
me, I shall await his arrival, then — I shall apply for 
foreign duty, and never set foot on that accursed 
shore again.” 

With a trembling finger he pointed to the old man- 
sion, where the returned Confederate was now lying 
under the care of two hospital stewards and a pale- 
faced Sister of Mercy. 

Like a wraith, Felicie glided to his side. “Jasper, 
would you leave me?” she whispered. 

“No,” cried the Captain, the light of love breaking 
out in his bronzed face. “To the uttermost ends of the 
earth you shall go with me, if you go as ” 

“Your wife, Jasper /” cried Felicie. “I owe you my 
love, my poor woman heart, as a reward for this 
crowning outrage. My uncle is mad — he has been 
worked upon to his utter destruction. He is but the 
wreck of a man. And yet, my God, he would have 
slain you.” 


SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 229 

Helpless, in his stately mansion, the old veteran at 
last saw that he was coldly avoided by every one, save 
in so far as the Good Samaritan’s work laid them under 
bond. 

“If this fellow ‘Mason’ or Leigh would only talk, 
if he would only explain,” mused the defiant fire-eater, 
still unconscious of the horrors of his own murderous 
attempt. “Coward, no !” finally decided Villeroi. “He 
did not flinch !” 

But, the ancient Pharaoh hardened his heart, in his 
luxurious isolation, until a stern letter from Judge 
Hammond Green leaf came to startle him, even in his 
icy self-deception. 

In a lifelong friendship, Aristide Villeroi had never 
known Hammond Greenleaf to use words before which 
cut like whip-lashes. 

“I have learned,” wrote the Baltimore sage, “of your 
demented behavior at La Belle Etoile. If it were not 
you, Aristide, I would say it was the act of a dastard. 
I am the father of your son’s wife. Our blood will 
be mingled in their children. My fortune is the only 
bulwark of Henri, against the ruin which you have 
worked by joining the ranks of the Confederacy. How 
blind you have been, how brutal in your untempered 
fury, wrought upon your slanderers ; I leave you yet to 
learn when sorrow and a knowledge of the truth brings 
you a suppliant for Jasper Leigh’s forgiveness. He 
saved Henri’s life twice, he has protected your whole 
family property, his bounty placed Felicie above want 
when you cut off her funds in Paris. Only Leigh and 
the dead General Pendleton know what your tyranny 
has been to your niece. Jasper is the peer of any man 
who ever rode with Jackson or with Lee. Brave — as 
your own sword! Loyal, true, the soul of honor! It 
was his bread you ate at Elmira ; he obtained Henri’s 
release at Paris ; he arranged his early pardon. Adele 
Villeroi, my daughter, and yours, aided to deceive you 
at Elmira, to conquer your fiery pride and so, save you 
from rotting in the stockade, when Jeff Davis’s cold 
cruelty cut off all exchanges. There is a thunderbolt 
reserved to bring you to your knees before this injured 
man ! You are not the arbiter of Felicie Villeroi’s mar- 


230 SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 

ried future. You have now neither estate nor protec- 
tion to offer her. For God’s sake, hold off your hand ! 
And I tell you that this man is also sacred to you by 
the laws of high heaven. I was his attorney before the 
Department in the matter of the three estates. How 
nobly he has labored to restore them intact to Henri, to 
Felicie, and to save your own interests, by a govern- 
mental pardon forced on you — only I know. Yes, the 
Secretary of the Interior knows; Assistant Secretary 
Fox knows, and Jasper Leigh’s name has been black- 
ened in God’s service. I will write to you no more. 
Henri and Adele are coming to face you with the 
proofs of your black ingratitude. You know nothing 
of the vital secrets yet. Pray God that you may never 
know all. But you did know enough to be assured 
that Leigh has been a brother, a Bayard of chivalry, to 
your son and niece. Dare now to ask Elise Armytage 
to tell you even half the truth ! For God’s sake, come 
to your senses. It is useless to write to me. I cannot 
write to you and Leigh at the same time. God forgive 
you, Aristide ! I only pray that you have been crazy !” 

After a sleepless night, the broken old veteran tim- 
idly asked Surgeon Armytage to allow his wife to 
come over to La Belle Etoile for a Conference. 

‘‘No, General,” grandly said Robert Armytage. 
“You are my patient, not my friend. You cast my 
wife off three years ago, and she shall not be humbled 
with your varying moods. We live in a world of love 
and truth, and you have lost all the rights you once 
possessed for her friendly aid, her love, her confidence. 
And you are merely here by the sufferance of Captain 
Leigh. I can never forget that horrible scene. You 
have been walking with the Prince of Darkness.” 

Two days later, General Villeroi received a shock 
which shattered his remaining pride. 

A formal letter to Captain Jasper Leigh, U. S. 
Navy, Sloop Jamestown, was returned with the verbal 
message that Captain Leigh respectfully declined any 
communication with General Aristide Villeroi, late of 
Confederate States Army. 

A day later, to Villeroi’s last impassioned appeal to 
be allowed to reimburse the monies advanced to Miss 


SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 23 1 

Felicie Villeroi, Captain Leigh coldly answered, un- 
der seal, that he “declined to accept anything at the 
hands of General Villeroi, and proposed in future to 
transact all matters directly with Miss Villeroi without 
an intermediary of any kind/’ 

There was but one last resort ! And, when General 
Villeroi had exhausted his eloquence upon the pale- 
faced beauty who had shielded her lover with her ten- 
der body, Felicie calmly said : “General, I owe to you 
only the respect of listening. I have no answer what- 
ever. I only await the arrival of Henri and Adele to 
leave La Belle Etoile forever.” 

The stern old patrician has at last awakened a pride 
as haughty as his own. When he lifted his bowed 
head, the graceful woman was gone from his side. 

A month later, Henri Villeroi and his bewitching 
bride, were rowed out in Captain Leigh’s barge to the 
Jamestown, where the three waiting hearts leaped up 
at the sight of so much embodied happiness. 

In the evening, Lieutenant Villeroi left Adele under 
the flag whose heirship he had regained, and alone 
sought out his soul-darkened father seated on the 
verandah of the deserted mansion. 

All light seemed to have departed from the once 
happy home. Even the servants stole around in a de- 
jected silence. 

“Father,” sadly said Henri, “I have come back, half 
way around the world, to tell you of your fatal error. 
I have read Judge Greenleaf’s letter.” 

“And, is it all true?” cried the General, tremulously 
clasping his son’s hands. 

“More than true,” sighed Henri. “You know not 
half our obligations to Jasper Leigh. He is so strong 
in innocence, that he needs not even your disavowal. 
But I shall stay at your side in love and truth. You 
surely knew not what you did !” 

“Your wife?” fondly demanded the veteran. 

“Will not cross the threshold until Jasper Leigh has 
been righted. For, he is the one master here.” 

“Am I dreaming?” faltered Villeroi. 

“Onlv God knows the whole unhappv past,” said 
the unhappy son. “But, while I come here as your 


232 SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 

son, I only come as Jasper Leigh’s friend, as the man 
who doubly owes him a life.” 

It was a weary conflict between pride and an awak- 
ened conscience, the three long weeks of General Vil- 
leroi’s last battle. The rugged veteran had at last 
dropped his mask of pride, and he now sought Robert 
Armytage’s eyes timidly. 

For no one dared to lay a heavier burden upon 
Henri Villeroi. The young master of La Belle Etoile 
failed in no filial duty, but the light foot of Adele 
Greenleaf never crossed the threshold of the sorrow- 
haunted house. 

The Jamestozi'n was now making ready for sea, and 
General Villeroi, in a startled silence, heard from 
Henri, of Captain Leigh’s assignment to the command 
of the Lancaster in Japan. The old soldier early 
learned from the keen-eyed blacks of Felicie Villeroi’s 
slender outfit for a voyage to far away Cathay. A few 
girlish trinkets, a few memorials of her dead parents, 
that was all the spoil of the past which fell to the 
heiress of three great estates. 

It was on an evening of the middle of December that 
General Villeroi called Henri to his side. 

Father and son sat in the silent library. 

“I must see this man, my son,” the old soldier . 
gloomily said. “The Villerois must not perish from' 
the earth. There is the family property.” 

“Do not concern yourself, father,” said Henri in a 
passionate voice. “You will be left alone here soon 
enough. Surgeon and Mrs. Armytage go to Europe 
on a year’s leave of absence, beginning January first. 
Adele and myself will join them later, as you are well 
now. I would stifle here; the very air of this house 
has a horror for me, a memory of shame, the shame 
of evil returned for good.” 

“Felicie?” faltered the General, now at bay. 

“Of her plans I know nothing,” frankly said Henri. 
“Sorrow has given her at least, her freedom — use it as 
she mav. You must ask her ! As for Adele and my- 
self, we shall not return here. Judge Greenleaf bids us 
settle in Baltimore near him.” 


SPECIAL^ ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 233 

“And, our ancient heritage?” said the despairing 
General. 

“Give yourself no uneasiness, Sir,” said Henri, with 
a cold pride. “Captain Leigh has transferred it all to 
Felicie and myself jointly. And we are unwilling to 
take it with the curse of the past clinging to it. Judge 
Greenleaf has prepared all the papers. Captain Leigh’s 
transfers have been made and recorded, and I go to 
New Orleans to take legal possession of the Pierre Vil- 
leroi properties. This done, we only wait for the last 
papers, and then, Sir, we both transfer the whole Vil- 
leroi estates to you without any reservation.” 

“To me, a proscribed rebel?” cried the General, 
starting up. 

“Excuse me,” wearily said Henri. “Since the ces- 
sation of hostilities, and the fall of the Confederacy, 
you can take a new title as easily as any other human 
being in America. Your old disabilities ended with 
your unconditional discharge and the President’s 
proclamation of peace and of the supremacy of the 
national authority. You are only forbidden to vote at 
national elections, or to hold an official position under 
the United States — all other civil powers have been re- 
turned to you, and so even you cannot prevent this 
transfer. I represent Miss Villeroi and Captain 
Leigh, who will both decline to discuss this matter. 
And so, you will be left the master here.” 

“Is this your work?” cried the unmanned General. 

“No, father,” sadly said Henri Villeroi, “it is your 
own work, the latest harvest of your life. A sad, sad 
harvest.” 

In vain, General Villeroi tried to question his son. 

“Let me go. I shall stifle,” cried the unhappy son, 
as he went out into the night. 

And on that night General Villeroi found his way 
to a plan suddenly formed. 

It was on the next morning, while Surgeon Army- 
tage was making his camp rounds, that a carriage 
passed before the quarters where Elise Delmar 
watched the old veteran, aided only by his campaign 
body servant. 

, Aristide Villeroi was clad iq his faded Confederate 


234 SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 

uniform, and a sad smile flickered over his wan face, 
as the blue-coated sentinel presented arms. 

With a madly beating heart, Elise Armytage stood 
helpless in her plain barrack reception room, as the 
veteran, with tears in his eyes, held out both his arms. 

“I came to you, Elise, to you, to sue for the truth. 
May God forgive me. Take pity on me, or I shall die.” 

The broken old man sank into a chair. 

in an instant, the kindly woman’s soft arms were 
clasped around him. “It is the Aristide of old !” she 
cried. “Listen, and, for God’s sake, hear me in 
silence.” 

With her face lit up with a tender pity, clasping his 
withered hands, she gently lifted the curtain of the 
past. 

General Villeroi sat long, as if spellbound, and when 
Robert Armytage’s wife, gazing fondly at him, said : 
“Would you know why Jasper Leigh sacrificed himself 
in silence, in all this — because the son of Agnes Stan- 
wood was not drowned — because he was trained up to 
a noble profession — because when Jasper Stan wood 
Leigh saved the whole estate in the trial at Washing- 
ton — he swore only to his rightful title as Jasper Stan- 
wood Leigh Villeroi, the eldest son of General Aris- 
tide Villeroi.” 

When the General opened his eyes, his head was 
pillowed on Elsie Delmar’s breast. 

“And so, you see he was true to the very last. For, 
he told you that he was a Southern man !” 

“Take me home, Elise!” murmured the man, who 
was now wandering in a shadowy past. 

“Come back; come, or I shall die. May God for- 
give me !” 

An hour later, in the library of La Belle Etoile, Elise 
Armytage listened for a well-known step upon the 
verandah. 

Placing a rosy finger to her smiling lips, she stole 
out and led in a tall officer, on whose shoulders shone 
the eagles and foul anchors of a Captain of the United 
States Navy. 

There was a glad cry. “My son, my son!” 

And then Captain Leigh quieted the frightened 


SPECIAL ORDERS FOR COMMANDER LEIGH. 235 

Elise. “No, joy does not kill. This is the end of the 
mystery. You have told him?” 

“Only that you are his son,” whispered Elise, as she 
glided away. 

Henri Villeroi, hastening homeward at the news 
of his father’s first external expedition, hastily entered 
the library. 

He started back in a profound astonishment, but he 
leaped upon Jasper Leigh in a frenzy of delight, when 
General Villeroi said : “Henri, my boy, you have lost 
your crown as the head of the old house. Here is 
Jasper Villeroi, your brother!” 


FINIS. 



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"inimhimhin mii:in inn 

pedal Orders 
; for Commander Leigh 


A Story of the Lower Coast 
of Louisiana 


By 

Col. Richard Henry Savage 

AUTHOR OF 

“MY OFFICIAL WIFE ” “THE MYSTERY OF A 
SHIPYARD/* Etc., Etc. 


NEW YORK 


THE HOME PUBLISHING COMPANY 



The King’s Secret 

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Col. Richard Henry Savage 


Author Official Wife,” “The Midnight Passenger,” etc. 

T here is no land under the sun more glowing with 
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who gave us Ericsson and Dahlgren, to the two countries 
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and pride of place, divide a historic family. Exciting scenes, a 
blended romance of peace and war, with character studies made 
during three visits by the author, give this dashing novel a 
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many strange happenings by flood and field, make this an un- 
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The Empty Hostelry 
A Strange Lady 

A French Lawyer 

The Surrender of a Woman 
An Elopement in a Locomobile 
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Davidson. 

Cloth, 1.50 Paper, .50 Cents 

At all booksellers or sent postpaid on receipt of 
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